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tibetan karma
carpets are proud to be
officially licensed by GooodWeave USA.
For more information, visit
www.GoodWeave.org.
Child-Labor-Free
Certification
The
GoodWeave label is the best assurance that no child labor was used in the
making of your rug. In
order to earn the GoodWeave label, rug exporters and importers must be
licensed under the GoodWeave certification program and sign a legally
binding contract to:
- Adhere
to the no-child-labor standard
and not employ any person under age 14
- Allow
unannounced random inspections by local inspectors
- Endeavor
to pay fair wages to adult workers
- Pay
a licensing fee that helps support GoodWeave’s monitoring, inspections
and education programs
To
ensure compliance, independent GoodWeave inspectors make unannounced
inspections of each loom. If inspectors find children working, they offer
them the opportunity to go to school instead, and the producers lose their
status with GoodWeave. To protect against counterfeit labeling, each label
is numbered so its origin can be traced to the loom on which the rug was
produced.
GoodWeave
also sets contractual standards for companies that import certified rugs.
Importers agree to source only from GoodWeave certified exporters in India,
Nepal and any other country in which GoodWeave rugs are available. In the
United States and other rug-importing countries, only licensed importers are
legally permitted to sell carpets carrying the GoodWeave label.
Importers
and exporters also help support GoodWeave and its commitment to provide
rehabilitation and schooling for all rescued children. Exporters pay
0.25 percent of the export value of each rug, and importers pay a licensing
fee of 1.75 percent of the shipment value. Licensing fees go toward
monitoring, inspections and educational programs that are part of the
GoodWeave program.
GoodWeave's
certification standards are set by GoodWeave
International, an associate member of the International Social and
Environmental Accreditation and Labeling Alliance (ISEAL), which leads the
world in setting norms and good practices for certification. GoodWeave's
national offices in producer countries implement and enforce the standards.
Soon,
the GoodWeave label will mean even more. In order to further the mission to
end child labor by addressing the root causes of the problem, GoodWeave's
certification standard will include other environmental and social criteria,
guided by ISEAL’s
Codes of Good Practice. Licensees will be required to demonstrate
that their employees are working under safe conditions for a reasonable
wage, among other requirements. GoodWeave certified rugs will become
greener, as licensees work to identify negative impacts of production as
well as ways to mitigate them. Each producer will work with GoodWeave to
develop a plan for improving working conditions and environmental impacts
over time. To learn more about the new standard, visit www.GoodWeave.net.
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