The report is very long and in-depth and is definitely worth the read if you have time.  However, I'm assuming that the majority of our blog readers are not exactly jumping at the opportunity to read an almost 500-page report on child labor, so here are some highlights. 

These are some of the key issues that stood out to me:

I think the video does a good job of showing some of the abuses that occur in the production of goods consumed around the world.  It reminds me of the documentary about Wal-Mart: "The High Cost of Low Prices."  A lot of the work that ILRF does along with the other organizations behind this blog seeks to show U.S. consumers and policymakers how our purchasing practices and lack of labor law enforcement impacts workers around the world. 

One
of the most outrageous details in the report is the Colombian government’s use
of a “random violence theory.” In their discussion of violence against union
members in Colombia,
government officials often distort the true motives of murderers. They claim
that violence against unionists is “random” instead of “targeted,” and that the
Colombian trade union movement “has taken advantage of high homicide rates to
inflate numbers and gain political mileage.”

Fidel, a relatively new employee on the subway told me that
he had lost several jobs after reporting injustices he had witnessed in the
workplace. After growing tired of the need to remain silent to keep a job, he
began working on the subway so that he could be his own boss. He narrated the
story of a friend who works from 6 AM to 6 PM and has a two-hour commute (many
people live in Buenos Aires
sprawling suburban area but work in the city limits). The man’s only child is
asleep when he leaves for work at 4 in the morning and again when he gets back
at 8 at night. This story is a common one, and it shows what has driven many
into the informal economy, which is more volatile but less cruel than its
counterpart.