A new report has revealed the human cost behind the cosmetics industry, showing how children are exploited to produce ingredients for beauty products — some of which could end up in New Zealand.
The World Vision report found many imported cosmetics contained ingredients from known child labour hotspots.
New Zealand imports an estimated $370 million worth of cosmetics a year.
There are now calls on beauty brands and the Government to do more to ensure products are free of worker exploitation.
The global charity highlighted the case of two brothers in Uganda, who guard their family's vanilla farm at night, risking their lives to protect the precious spice from thieves.
In video provided by World Vision, the brothers described their fear when a thief came to their farm at night, and they narrowly missed being speared as they fled for help.
Vanilla is commonly sold to beauty companies offshore, as it's used in fragrances and skincare products. The boys are among 160 million kids in child labour — many are forced to do so when their families are not fairly compensated for work.
Children work in often life-threatening conditions to gather ingredients for our beauty products, such as mica, cocoa, and copper.
Mica, which adds shine to lipstick, often comes from India where child labour is rife.
Cocoa, found in things like soap, often comes from Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire where it is thought 2.1 million kids are curerntly working.
Copper, frequently used in serums, can come from the Democratic Republic of Congo — where some children could be working up to 12 hours a day.
World Vision's advocacy head Rebekah Armstrong said that some of these children are as young as three years old and work in dangerous environments.
"Little hands can be really important sometimes to extract really precious minerals and goods — it's a really big problem."
The Government is currently drafting a law that would put the onus on companies to say how products are sourced and address any issues they find.
World Vision and Tearfund are calling on the Government to progress modern slavery legislation before the election.
Armstrong said that this would introduce due diligence and transparency in the industry.
"We would like it to go a little bit further and introduce due diligence which means once you find the issue you've actually got to address it," she said.
However, some beauty brands have already taken steps to ensure their products are made using responsibly sourced ingredients.
Local brand Ethique makes solid bars of shampoo, conditioner, and skin care products and told 1News that it avoids red-flag countries and pays fair prices to its producers.
Brand founder Brianne West said that businesses needed to pay attention to the issue.
"We make sure we know where our ingredients are sourced from, and there are some red flag countries you avoid," she said.
In a statement, Cosmetics New Zealand general manager Matha Van Arts said their industry must help drive change on the "crucial issue" and to ensure that products are made using responsibly sourced ingredients.
"Consumers, governments and companies all have role as we stamp out modern slavery and responsibly source ingredients throughout all aspects of the supply chain," she said.
"Cosmetics New Zealand is focused on these issues, and we are reviewing World Vision's report to take the learnings from it."
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