To mark International Human Rights Day last Thursday, a nationally touring photography exhibit was unveiled at the World Bank in Washington DC that depicts a nonprofit organization working to end exploitative child labor in South Asia’s handmade carpet industry.
Faces of Freedom tells the success stories of children who have been helped by organization that launched a certification campaign assuring buyers and importers that no child labor was used in the manufacture of a carpet or rug.
The GoodWeave certification program is a market-based solution for factories that want the advantage of being certified child-labor-free in a marketplace where importers increasingly demand corporate responsibility. RugMark USA, the nonprofit that launched the GoodWeave program also provides rehabilitation and education for former child weavers.
This collection of images, taken by acclaimed photographer and film director U. Roberto Romano, is being hosted in venues across North America to herald GoodWeave’s progress in the fight against child labor.
A collection of luxurious carpets, certified child-labor-free by GoodWeave, will also be on display.
Watch the video below, or at MSNBC…