Nonprofits are launching programs to prevent and eradicate child labor in Mexico’s fashion supply chain. World Vision Mexico, a Christian aid organization, and C&A Foundation, the philanthropic arm of European clothing chain C&A, will be rolling out the two-year initiative in six communities across Tehuacán in the state of Puebla, a region known as much for denim production as for its high degree of social inequality. More than 59 per cent of Puebla’s population lives in poverty.

Tehuacán is an area with a high rate of violence, and other situations where human rights of children, adolescents and adults are being violated have also been identified, such as human trafficking and child labor. Child labor is prevalent among providers in the textile industries. The project will feature a comprehensive approach that includes training on how to conduct detection sessions, keep children and adolescents in school, and create public awareness campaigns at the community level.

World Vision Mexico and the C&A Foundation will also be working to revise protocols on researching child labor in the region and craft more effective strategies for protecting children’s rights. Interventions through the program are expected to have a direct effect on 500 children and an indirect one on 2,000 more.