Why It Matters
Forced and child labour are part of the supply chains behind everyday goods.
- 27.6 million
- people in forced labour on any given day in 2021International Labour Organization, 2024
- 160 million
- children in child labour in 2020, seven in ten of them in farmingILO and UNICEF, 2021
- 204
- goods from 82 countries on the US list of products made with child or forced labourUS Department of Labor, 2024
The US list of goods made with child or forced labour includes the cocoa in chocolate, the cobalt in phone batteries, the cotton in clothes and the silicon in solar panels.
US Department of Labor, List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor, 2024
Big companies score low on tackling it. In KnowTheChain's benchmarks, the biggest food companies averaged 15 out of 100 in 2026, and clothing companies 21 in 2023.
KnowTheChain benchmarks, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
How You Can Help
Companies change when people can see what they do, and when people choose the ones doing better.
- You look up a brand and choose
- Companies see they are watched
- Pressure brings disclosure and fixes
- Agreements and laws lock it in
Awareness and Choice
Brands rarely show who made their products, so you usually can't tell whether workers were abused. Labour Lens grades 2,155 brands in 12 categories from public evidence. You can check one in the shop and pick a brand doing better.
Abuse stays out of sight
Amnesty International traced cobalt dug by children in DR Congo into the supply chains of 16 multinational companies. None gave enough detail to show where its cobalt came from.
Amnesty International, 2016
Brands say little about pay
In the 2023 Fashion Transparency Index, 1% of the fashion brands rated said how many of their workers earn a living wage.
Fashion Transparency Index, 2023
Public Pressure
Companies also change when they know people are watching. Public ratings, campaigns and binding agreements have pushed companies to disclose more and fix problems.
Poorly rated firms improved most
When an outside rater began covering firms that hadn't asked to be rated, the poorly rated ones then cut toxic pollution more than others.
Chatterji & Toffel 2010 · environmental ratings
Campaigns raised pay
Anti-sweatshop campaigns raised unskilled wages at targeted Indonesian factories without significantly cutting overall employment.
Harrison & Scorse 2010
Agreements locked fixes in
After Rana Plaza, the binding Bangladesh Accord reported about nine in ten initial-inspection hazards fixed by January 2020.
Financial Express 2020
Industry by Industry
We ask the same question of brands in 12 categories: can they show the people who made their products were paid and treated fairly? Problems start at different stages in each industry.
- On farms
- In mines
DR Congo mined 74% of the world's cobalt in 2025. Amnesty International found children as young as seven working in its cobalt mines.
US Geological Survey, 2026 · Amnesty International, 2016 Read the guides: Electronics, Cars & bikes, Jewellery, Beauty
- At sea
The ILO counted 128,000 fishers in forced labour in 2021, and says that count is probably too low.
International Labour Organization, 2024 Read the guide: Seafood
- In factories
- Here in Australia
In 2025 the Federal Court found Coles and Woolworths hadn't paid salaried store managers everything the retail award required. The ruling covered 27,700 staff.
SBS News, 2025 Read the guide: Supermarkets
As of 5 November 2026, 86 of the 2,155 brands we've graded can show it. See them
What You Can Do
Why It Matters Now
Since 1 January 2025, intentionally underpaying a worker can be a crime in Australia. The EU Forced Labour Regulation applies from 14 December 2027. The EU due-diligence directive now covers only firms with more than 5,000 employees, after the 2025–26 Omnibus deal.
Fair Work Ombudsman, 2025 · European Union, 2024 and 2026
Who Runs Labour Lens
Anders Costelloe runs it in Melbourne. He built it to learn which companies make their products without abusing the people who make them, and to support those companies. No brand pays to be listed, rated or left out. There are no ads, and we earn nothing from “Visit website” links.