A/HRC/30/35 mentioned in the present report are therefore not meant to be a comprehensive list, but an indication of where contemporary forms of slavery have been reported to occur. 11 22. According to ILO data from 2012, 5.5 million of the 20.9 million of persons in forced labour are children12 and an estimated 5–15 per cent of those are working in supply chains, with the figure significantly higher if domestic supply chains are also taken into account. The lowest tiers in the informal economy are particularly at risk of involving the worst forms of child labour. In 2012, the number of children involved in hazardous work that directly endangers their health, safety and moral development, often understood as a proxy for the worst forms of child labour, was said to be 85 million in absolute terms. 13 While reliable data on those sectors most susceptible to using such work are difficult to obtain, cases of the worst forms of child labour were found in sectors that correspond to those with a high risk of contemporary forms of slavery occurring in supply chains, including agriculture (i.e., farming of raw materials such as sugar, cotton, cocoa and tobacco), construction, mining and quarrying, and garments and textiles.14 23. In agriculture, contemporary forms of slavery have reportedly occurred in many countries, involving crops such as sugar cane, cut flowers, fruit and vegetables, tropical nuts and commodities, for example, palm oil, cotton, 15 cocoa, tobacco and beef. 16 Production in the sector often relies on temporary or migrant labour and is characterized by complex contracting and subcontracting chains, as well as smallholder farming in some cases. Much of the work on remote farms and plantations is typified by excessive working hours, lack of compliance with labour laws, weak or non-existent labour inspections and corruption. Competition to produce at the lowest cost enhances the risk of contemporary forms of slavery being involved in agriculture, especially debt bondage in impoverished rural communities and among vulnerable categories of workers, such as indigenous people, minorities, migrants, women and children. 24. In the garment and textile sectors, reports indicate a significant risk of contemporary forms of slavery occurring in the complex subcontracting that characterizes the industry in many parts of the world, including the sometimes home-based and informal workshops operating on the margins of the formal economy. Subcontractors such as these are often overlooked both by labour inspections and due diligence systems, making workers in these supply chains particularly vulnerable to exploitation given the quick turnaround time to meet orders from global fashion brands and consumer needs. Contemporary forms of slavery have often been cited as occurring in global supply chains of international brands. 17 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 A comprehensive database of reported cases, including companies’ responses, can be found on the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre website (www.business-humanrights.org). See ILO, “Global Estimate of Forced Labour: Results and methodology” (2012). ILO, “Marking Progress against Child Labour: Global Estimates and Trends 2000–2012” (2013), pp. 3 and 32. ILO, “Implementing the Roadmap for Achieving the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour by 2016: a training guide for policymakers” (2013), p. 9. Various advocacy initiatives have addressed forced labour in cotton-picking in Uzbekistan. See, for example, Anti-Slavery International (www.antislavery.org); the Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights, “The Government’s Riches, the People’s Burden: Human Rights Violations in Uzbekistan’s 2014 Cotton Harvest” (2015) (www.antislavery.org/includes/documents/cm_docs/2015/2/2014_cotton_harvest_report.pdf); and the OECD, “Annual Report on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises 2012” on examples of complaints regarding sourcing of Uzbek cotton made to national contact points, and how these were addressed (http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/mne-2012-en). For example, www.verite.org/Commodities. See, for example, Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations and India Committee of the Netherlands, “Flawed Fabrics: the abuse of girls and women workers in the South Indian textile 7