Arisa
Utrecht, 26 June 2020
Sandstone is widely used in Europe as cobblestones. This report, “Between a rock and a hard place”, shows that progress has been made as compared to the findings of Arisa in her report “Budhpura ‘Ground Zero’ – Sandstone quarrying in India”, 2005. Child labour has been greatly reduced in the quarries, but it is still common, especially in the cobblestone making in home yards. In addition to child labour, the study also looked at paying minimum wages. The situation here is a lot less positive. Women in particular are discriminated against because they are given other jobs – for which less is paid – than men. The report also shows that silicosis, an incurable lung disease, is a major problem which receives far too little attention.
The report has been shared in draft form with 112 companies from five European countries. The report concludes with recommendations for companies to address the aforementioned issues.
The full version of the report “Between a rock and a hard place” can be downloaded here: https://arisa.nl/wp-content/uploads/BetweenARockAndAHardPlace.pdf.
Version française de se rapport (“Entre le marteau et l’enclume”): https://arisa.nl/wp-content/uploads/BetweenARockAndAHardPlace-FR.pdf.
