This is a normal morning, you dress up yourself and put on some makeup. The cars are noisy outside as usual. Our new day is coming, and we are excited about the things that are going to happen today.

But do you know that the situation above may not be something usual to some Indian children?

Mica, a kind of mineral with glassy luster. After processing into sheets or powder, its various uses make it become valuable. Humans have used mica since prehistoric times for cave paintings. Mica is widely distributed in Asia, Africa, and America. It has good insulation and chemical stability that is suitable for the use on electrical appliances. It can reflect and refract the light and make the products shimmering and shiny, therefore, it is widely used in vehicle paints, cosmetics, electronics…, etc.

Then, where is the mica from? The world's chief deposits of mica are found in India. Sure enough, India is also one of the largest exporters of sheet mica. However, most of the mica mining is illegal, with most use of child labor as well. That is the story we are going to share today. While we are enjoying all of the ”normal” things today, over twenty thousand children are risking their lives working in the mining field.

There are many kinds of cosmetics on the market. For example: foundation, blusher, lipstick…these pretty things contain mica, that’s why they look so shimmering.

Behind the cosmetic industry is a group of children working in the mines. I had seen one of the videos from Refinery 29, and it recorded the process of their investigation in those illegal mines. In the video, the children sift mica from the gravel, and many of them have worked there for years. The youngest age the child started this work was just four-year-old. With all the hard work made, they don’t even know where the mica goes after they mine it. The contractors who hire these children don’t welcome cameras because they know using child labor is illegal. And these illegal actions still exist exaggeratedly, especially in India.

Child labor, they don’t even wear shoes, their skinny bodies go into the dark and dangerous mines. They don't know what will happen in the mine, also, constantly working in a place full of dust may lead to pneumonia or respiratory illnesses. What's worse, they might get hurt or killed the second the rocks fall on them.

You may wonder, why do the children have to work in such a terrible environment? Most of the mica mines located there have the problem of high poverty. For those Indian families, mica mining is the only way to survive. Working in the mines can at least assure them to stay away from hunger. Nevertheless, can things be turned around? The situation of child labor didn't come to light until 2014.

One of the cosmetic brands — Lush, decided to use synthetic mica (an artificial and biodegradable shimmer pigment) instead of natural mica in 2014. Since 2018, all of their products are made by synthetic mica successfully, Lush hopes to oppose using child labor by this decision. However, things are not that simple. According to Aysel Sabahoglu, a child rights officer at Terre des Hommes Netherlands, she says "Pulling out will not solve any other issues." Some experts think companies have the responsibility to clean up their supply chains and ensure the people who are mining these raw materials can get a decent pay to stop the cycle of poverty. And what about other cosmetic corporations?  Most of them either discount the use of Indian mica or state openly to the community that their supply chain is responsible with no child labor.

Then, what is the action the government has taken? NCPCR (National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights) has been aware of the issue since 2016. They conducted a survey to understand the problem, but the people high up at the ministry seemed to know little about the issue.

According to the information from the Ministry of Mines, the mica yield between 2013 and 2014 is about 19,000 tons, but the actual mica export amount is about 128,000 tons. It is six times more than the official data. Many companies ignore the issue of child labor to lower the cost. Isn't the difference of the number between the truth and the government a space for those businessmen to deprive children's rights?

Things are not always bad. As time goes on, people are more and more valuing the issue of child labor. Advanced and convenient technology makes the information spread quicker and wider. Some NGO (non-governmental organization) also put a lot of effort on helping those Indian children. Two foundations, KSCF (Kenya Students’ Christian Fellowship) and BBA, are trying to make the government take more actions and help those poor countries organize “child friendly villages”. These people are doing their best to pull out the children from the mines, and there must be something we can help.

As a child who is living in a comfortable environment, it is hard to imagine that there is still this kind of dire issue in the modern time. 

The issue of child labor is never an easy problem, but as a teen, we can fix it by our easy actions. Aysel Sabahoglu mentioned that there are actually many products in our daily life that contain mica, but less people notice it. Be a responsible consumer, seeking the information about the product we are going to buy. Share the stories to our friends, let more people notice the issue. We have to make those companies which use child labor just for their economic benefits realize that depriving child rights is no longer the right thing to do for our generation.