Children are among the 30,000 workers who labor under perilous and grueling conditions in Bangladesh to break apart ships that once carried the freight of the world’s G-20 nations, according to a report issued today by the National Labor Committee.

The new report, “Where Ships and Workers Go to Die: Ship-breaking in Bangladesh and the Failure of Global Institutions to Protect Worker Rights,” documents the plight of workers who dismantle ships of the G-20, working 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, under primitive conditions for wages of just 22 to 32 cents an hour—doing one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

Charles Kernaghan, director of the National Labor Committee, challenged the G-20 ministers to take up the issue: “The G-20 leaders must be held accountable for having miserably failed workers across the developing world, workers who continue to be injured, cheated, maimed, paralyzed and killed on a daily basis ... more