Nintendo has admitted that underage child workers have likely worked on Wii U production lines.
The admission comes after a Nintendo investigation into working conditions at the Foxconn facilities used to produce hardware for the console manufacturer.
“Nintendo was concerned to learn that underage individuals had been working at a Foxconn facility in China where components for some Nintendo products are produced,” said Charlie Scibetta, Nintendo of America’s senior director of corporate communications.
“Nintendo investigated the incident and determined that this was a violation of the Nintendo Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Procurement Guidelines that all Nintendo production partners are required to follow, based on relevant laws, international standards and guidelines.”
Nintendo points out that it is not the only company that works with Foxconn and that Foxconn has accepted responsibility for the findings.
“As one of many companies that work with Foxconn to enhance CSR along the whole supply chain, we take this issue very seriously. As part of our ongoing procurement process, Nintendo staff will continue to carry out on-site inspections of our production partners in order to understand the actual on-site conditions and to promote socially responsible procurement.
“Foxconn has taken full responsibility for this incident and has moved quickly to ensure that all affected individuals no longer work at Foxconn.
“In fact, Foxconn’s own policies prohibit the employment of underage individuals and the company has pledged to Nintendo via direct communications to improve its process of enforcing this policy to avoid any similar issues in the future.”
Sony, Microsoft and Apple also use Foxconn manufacturing facilities.
Source: Kotaku
