French cosmetics giant L’Oreal SA on Thursday said it has “zero tolerance” for forced labor in its supply chain and keeps a close eye on its mineral mica sources after a report criticized the company for failing to disclose slavery risks in its operations.
The report by CORE, a watchdog on corporate accountability, said some of the world’s top brands, including L’Oreal, do not report the risks of slavery associated with mica, a sparkly mineral used in makeup.
Reporting such risks is required by Britain’s 2015 Modern Slavery Act, under which major businesses must produce an annual statement outlining actions they have taken to combat slavery in their supply chains.
About 24.9 million people are victims of forced labor globally and nearly one in 10 children around is a victim of child labor, the International Labour Organization said.
In recent years, companies from clothes retailers to the food industry have come under increasing regulatory, public and consumer pressure to ensure their supply chains are free of child labor and slavery.
L’Oreal said its commitment to sourcing sustainable mica in India is reported on its Web site and that its statement under the Modern Slavery Act should be read in conjunction with its public reporting.
“At L’Oreal we take this topic very seriously and have a zero tolerance policy with regards to any type of forced labor including modern slavery,” the company said.
L’Oreal owns brands such as Garnier and Maybelline.
Speaking on the sidelines of the One Young World summit in Bogota, which brings together global youth leaders and social entrepreneurs, a top L’Oreal executive said the company is well aware of the risks of child labor in India’s mica mines.
“We know perfectly the issue about mica. We have been working about this issue for a number of years. We have been cooperating and engaging with local non-governmental organizations to work on this issue of mica,” L’Oreal senior vice-president Emmanuel Lulin said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last