Guest essay: Children toiling on a trash mountain spotlight the blurred line between informal and forced labor
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Published on April 15, 2026.
Lisa Kristine, a humanitarian photographer and artist, has documented the blurred line between informal and forced labor in India. She visited a landfill in northern India to photograph and document the technology supply chain to identify potential human exploitation. The workers were often unsanised, without protective gear, and often face severe health risks such as skin infections, tetanus and hepatitis from needle injuries, respiratory illnesses from toxic fumes, and diseases such as typhoid and cholera. Most waste pickers earn only a few dollars a day, far below minimum wage, and face no limits on hours, access to healthcare, no contracts, or compensation for injury, and no social security. The International Labour Organization's Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention No. 182 defines this as "hazardous work" that could harm the health, safety, or morals of a child.
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