The US Department of Labor (DOL) has added Malaysian rubber gloves to its latest list of goods produced with forced labour, dealing the industry another blow after two key players were put on a separate list of banned imports by another US agency for the same reason.
The previous List of Goods Produced by Child Labour or Forced Labour report published in 2018 had the country’s electronics, garments and palm oil industries included in the child and forced labour category. All three industries were also included in this year’s edition of the list.
Released late last month, the 2020 edition claimed that forced labour in Malaysia’s rubber glove industry predominantly occurred among the estimated 42,500 migrant workers from Bangladesh, India, Myanmar and Nepal, who were employed in over 100 rubber glove factories throughout the country.
