Primark in child labour row

Primark in child labour row
By Edward Harcourt
Last Updated: 12:42am BST 23/06/2008

Children as young as 11 from a refugee camp in India were used to make clothes that ended up on the shelves of UK retailer Primark.

The revelations are part of an investigation into Primark's supply chain in India, which will be aired on the BBC's Panorama programme tonight.

The programme will allege that one of Primark's Indian suppliers, Fab-N-Fabrics, used a factory that employed children from the Bhavanisagar refugee camp in the Tamil Nadu region of India.

advertisementThe camp's inhabitants are fleeing war in Sri Lanka. Some of the children are as young as 11 years old, the programme alleges.

There is also a suggestion that other leading UK and European retailers may have similar connections with child labour in their supply chains, though none is named by the programme.

Last week Primark sacked Fab-N-Fabrics and two other sub-contractors allegedly using child labour. The company also ordered an internal investigation and withdrew clothes made by these suppliers from its stores, after it became aware of the BBC investigation.

"We continue to buy from many other good suppliers in the same region and the overall value of our orders will not change as a result of this," the company said.