Senator Seeks Halt of Afghan Carpet Contract

Washington, DC, Aug. 20, 2010--In a letter to President Barack Obama, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) said that a no-bid contract to expand the market for Afghan carpets should be suspended due to concerns over child labor.

Parts of the overseas carpet manufacturing industy are known for employing children in the worst forms of child labor, Harkin said.

This includes Afghan carpets, which were included in the U.S. Department of Labor’s 2009 List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor.

An article in The Washington Post earlier this week reported that the Pentagon is poised to award a one-year, no-bid contract worth about $1 million to Tremayne Consulting to expand the market for Afghan carpets.

Harkin is a member of the Appropriations subcommittee on Defense, and Chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, which funds of the Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) – the office that oversees U.S. Government efforts to combat the worst forms of child labor.

“I agree it is important to promote sustainable economic development in Afghanistan,” Hardin said in a press release.

“However, the program as publicly described in The Washington Post appears to have no safeguards to protect children from the worst forms of child labor.

Harkin highlighted GoodWeave’s existing child labor certification standard as a way to expand market access without exploiting children.