Syrian refugee kids ‘making clothes for High Street chains including Marks & Spencer and Asos in Turkish sweatshops
TOP High Street chains like Next and Marks and Spencer are using Syrian refugee children to make their clothes in Turkish sweatshops, a TV investigation claims.
The BBC's Panorama also found refugees working illegally for Zara, Mango and online retailer ASOS.
Many of the kids are paid just over a pound an hour - much less than the Turkish minimum wage - and are employed through a dodgy agent who pays them in cash on the street, tonight's programme claims.
Undercover reporters also found Turkish kids as young as ten working in an Istanbul factory claiming to make pyjamas for Next .
A refugee working at one of M&S's main factories told of their poor treatment.
He said: “If anything happens to a Syrian, they will throw him away like a piece of cloth.” The youngest Syrian worker, aged 15, said he worked more than 12 hours a day ironing clothes to be shipped to the UK.
M&S has described the findings as 'extremely serious' and has offered permanent legal employment to any Syrians who were working at one supplier's factory.
Refugees in another factory were forced to bleach jeans for Zara and Mango with hazardous chemicals but no safety masks.
The retailers all claim to inspect the factories they use and do not tolerate exploitation.
But they were slammed by critics.
Danielle McMullan, from the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, said: "It’s not enough to say we didn’t know about this, it’s not our fault.
"They have a responsibility to monitor and to understand where their clothes are being made and what condition they are being made in." The revelations come amid rising concern about the use of sweatshops by retailers.
Mango claims the factory employing refugees was working as a subcontractor without its knowledge.
Zara’s parent company, Inditex, said it had already uncovered problems and had given the factory until December to make changes.
ASOS said it now planned to sponsor the refugee children to go to school.
M&S said: "We will do all we can to ensure that this does not happen again.” Next said its pyjamas were not made in the factory employing children, despite the owner showing reporters a sample.
Panorama - Undercover: The Refugees Who Make Our Clothes - is on BBC One tonight at 8.30pm.
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