Hidden cost of beauty: millions of children working to produce ingredients for cosmetics

• Dark reality behind beauty product creation, as children are forced to work in dangerous and sometimes life-threatening conditions to gather cosmetics ingredients
• Murky supply chains make it difficult to ensure beauty products do not contain child labour ingredients
• An estimated 30% of ingredients in cosmetics are derived from either mined or agricultural commodities.
• Globally, 112 million children – or 70% of all child labourers – work in agriculture. Up to 26% of child labour is linked to global export markets.

Wednesday, 26 July 2023 – International aid agency World Vision has today warned that most glossy beauty products are likely to contain ingredients gathered by children in mines and on farms in low-income countries. Cruelty-free products may not involve animal testing, but they are likely to include ingredients procured from child labour, according to their latest report ‘The High Price of Beauty”. 

After decades of progress, the number of child labourers who work to support their families or have been trafficked, forced, or coerced to work has been increasing since 2016. The child-focused NGO is today calling on supporters to lobby their governments and beauty companies for improved traceability and supply chain legislation so that no child is giving up their childhood for dangerous mining or agricultural work. Unless companies rigorously vet their supply chains, and governments expand social safety nets and school enrolment, it is likely 140 million children will still be in child labour in 2025. The suffering of children continues while cosmetic companies continue to profit.

Supply chains for both mined and agricultural products are often convoluted and difficult to trace, as products are imported and re-exported from multiple countries in different stages of the refinement process. Middlemen and large multinational cosmetic companies are profiting while children pay the price. An estimated 30 percent of ingredients in cosmetics are derived from either mined or agricultural commodities, and the growth of the natural beauty industry has seen an increased demand in agricultural inputs. World Vision believes that cosmetics buyers are in a position to pressure companies to procure responsibly and thereby help address the root causes of child labour.

“In illegal mines in India and Congo, children are dying in collapsed mine shafts while digging for minerals to help us sparkle or delay ageing. The convoluted nature of global supply chains means families aren’t earning enough to keep their children in school and out of work. While the demand and cosmetic companies' profits are increasing, so is the risk of child labour. This is not a zero-sum game. This is a world where the number of vulnerable children increased dramatically. The protective systems around children have become so frail and there is an urgent need for immediate improvement of supply chain systems for cosmetic ingredients, in order to make a life of difference for millions.  It’s a shared responsibility and we’re calling on companies to introduce total traceability and reduce their reliance on intermediaries. Turning a blind eye to the reality of where some of their ingredients have come from will not erase the consequences” said Daniela Buzducea, Partnership Lead for Advocacy and External Engagement at World Vision.

The World Vision report reviewed the policies of the seven largest beauty companies in 2018, and again in 2022. This investigation saw progress in the documentation of supplier standards, training, availability of hotlines, and audits. However, the same period also saw massive increases in children working to gather ingredients used in cosmetics such as cocoa, copper, mica and vanilla.

“Improved supply chain legislation has helped improve the practices of companies on paper in recent years, but we’re still waiting to see that translate into change on the ground. Child labour levels are increasing. The price of profit is their future. We urge consumers to ask governments and the companies they buy cosmetics from to act before another child misses out on an education, a childhood – or worse, their life – to mine or farm beauty product ingredients.” said Ms Buzducea.

ENDS.

For more information, please contact:  Niamh Cooper, Director of Public Engagement, World Vision International. Email: niamh_cooper@wvi.org Skype: Niamh.cooper5 Phone: +353 87 942 3371

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organisation dedicated to working with children, families and their communities to reach their full potential by tackling the root causes of poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender.  For more information, please visit www.wvi.org or follow us on Twitter @WorldVision

Report available here.