"[Child labour] shouldn't be happening ... we could do something from where we are, even little things, and not just ignore it"
By Lin Taylor
LONDON, June 9 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - On a cloudy day in east London, French street artist Zabou is spray painting a colourful mural of two child labourers - one balancing a basket of clothes on her head, the other slinging a hoe over his shoulder, both looking forlorn.
As trucks and buses zoom down the busy road, the giant portraits are attracting much wanted attention, with some pedestrians stopping to take photos of her work.
"If they look at it, that's the first win," Zabou told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, as she climbed down a ladder and removed her respirator.
"This is a good location as well, so hopefully the artworks will get a lot of attention and it will raise more awareness."
Zabou said she wanted to highlight the problem of child labour after fellow street artist Victoria Villasana asked her to collaborate on the project.
Growing up in Guadalajara, in Mexico, Villasana said she was moved by the plight of child labourers she had seen there.
"I know that it happens everywhere," Villasana told the Thomson Reuters Foundation over Skype.
"[Child labour] shouldn't be happening ... we could do something from where we are, even little things, and not just ignore it."
Around 168 million children - one in 10 globally - work in supply chains around the world, the International Labour Organization estimates, including in the agriculture, manufacturing and construction industries.
Nikki Prendergast, co-founder and director of Child Labor Free, who organised the mural paintings, believes ignorance about the extent of child labour was contributing to the issue.
If more consumers knew how child labour affects all industries, they could help drive down the number of child labourers through their buying power, she added.
As such, Prendergast and her team launched a 'Child Labor Free' watermark in 2015 to help consumers identify and buy products that are free of child labour.
"We're not naming and shaming. What we're asking brands is to come on the journey, to be honest about it," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"If you find child labour, let's remediate it ... The consumer will be more forgiving if you're open and transparent than if you're trying to hide it."
Prendergast said she hoped that armed with greater awareness of child labour, consumers would demand more ethically made products, from clothing to food.
"I want all products to hold that [Child Labor Free] mark and for people to think, 'Well of course it doesn't have child labour in it'. That it becomes normal, that it becomes an expectation of the consumer," she said.
(Reporting by Lin Taylor @linnytayls, Editing by Katie Nguyen; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters that covers humanitarian issues, conflicts, global land rights, modern slavery and human trafficking, women's rights, and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org to see more stories)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
