EGYPT: COMMENTS ON DOL'S DRAFT LIST OF GOODS

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 000402 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA; DRL/ILAB FOR ANZALDUA E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/08/2019 TAGS: EAGR EIND ELAB ETRD PHUM SOCI EG SUBJECT: EGYPT: COMMENTS ON DOL'S DRAFT LIST OF GOODS PRODUCED BY CHILD LABOR REF: A. SECSTATE 1730 ¶B. 08 CAIRO 1192 Classified By: Minister-Counselor for Economic and Political Affairs William R. Stewart for Reason 1.4(d). ¶1. (C) Post appreciates the opportunity to comment on the Department of Labor's (DOL) draft list of goods that it has evidence are produced with child or forced labor. (ref A) For Egypt, the DOL proposes listing limestone and cotton as such goods. ¶2. (SBU) With respect to limestone, Post recently reported that there is evidence that child labor is used in the production of limestone in quarries located near the Upper Egyptian city of Minya. (ref B) As noted in Post's reporting, however, the Government of Egypt, in partnership with the NGO community, appears to be making significant efforts to address the problem. ¶3. (C) With respect to cotton, Post asks DOL to share with it the basis for its proposal to list cotton as a product produced with child labor. While we are aware of some media reports that children are involved in the production of cotton in Egypt, it is difficult to document or quantify the degree of the problem. Since receiving the draft list from DOL, we have talked to a number of organizations involved in combating child labor in Egypt, including the World Food Program and the Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services. Both were aware of reports regarding the use child labor in cotton production in Egypt, but neither had any meaningful statistics. Similarly, the quasi-governmental National Council on Childhood and Motherhood told us that it did not have statistics on the use of child labor in cotton production, but was in the process of commissioning a study to determine the extent of the problem. SCOBEY