In the News

In Tajikistan, Debt-Ridden Farmers Say They Are the Pawns

New York Times
10/14/2008

By David L. Stern

Farhod, a farmer in this dusty southwestern spit of land pushed up against the Afghan and Uzbek borders, said that he had committed a subversive and potentially punishable act this growing season. He planted watermelons in addition to the usual cotton.

Such is the precarious position of growers throughout this impoverished republic of seven million that Farhod refused to be photographed or to give his real name. He fears the authorities will destroy his crop, even though they had assured him that he could plant whatever he wanted this year.

Warren Buffet, Waltons, Linked In Sweatshop Report

The Huffington Post
10/13/2008

 

Warren Buffet and the heirs of Sam Walton--who make up half of the top ten richest Americans---are linked in a new report critical of the appalling wages and working conditions found in a Bangladeshi sweatshop. Wal-Mart tried to delay the release of this new report.

The billionaires product? A school uniform t-shirt---one of Wal-Mart's brand name Faded Glory garments. The new study from a group called SweatFree Communities says Wal-Mart's business practices are directly responsible for some of the worst working conditions in sweatshop factories in Bangladesh...

How Your Kid's Soccer Ball Is Made

BreakPoint Commentaries
10/13/2008

Note: This commentary was delivered by PFM President Mark Earley.

The next time you are watching your kids play soccer, I would like you to think about some other kids, halfway around the world, and their soccer balls. Because unlike your children, for whom the ball is a symbol of childhood, for children in India the ball is often a symbol of stolen childhood.

Church Promotes Guilt-Free Chocolate for Halloween

Christian Post
10/13/2008

By Ethan Cole

The United Methodist Church and a group promoting economically just trade policies have teamed up to raise awareness about fair trade this Halloween.

Equal Exchange, United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and the General Board of Church and Society (GBCS) of the United Methodist Church have created an educational resource to increase awareness of the UMCOR Coffee Project and the need to advocate for better working conditions and prices for cocoa farmers throughout the world.... 

New Study Exposes Failure in Wal-Mart’s Auditing Program

SweatFree Communities
10/10/2008

Today’s Business Week.com story entitled, “Wal-Mart Supplier Accused of Sweatshop Conditions,” cites a new study, which exposes the failure of Wal-Mart’s auditing program in a Bangladesh factory. The factory, that produces Wal-Mart children’s wear in sweatshop conditions, forces workers to lie about working conditions to Wal-Mart inspectors, thereby avoiding any scrutiny from the company.

Ivory Coast Cocoa Farmers Withholding Beans in Price Dispute

Bloomberg
10/09/2008

By Pauline Bax

Ivory Coast cocoa farmers are withholding their beans at the start of the harvesting season because of a dispute over prices, said Fulgence N'Guessan, president of the country's National Union of Cocoa Exporting Cooperatives.

"We have asked the authorities to review the farm gate price so that cocoa flows to the ports normally," he said by phone from the capital Abidjan today.

Offside: Child labour rampant in football stitching

Thaiindian News
10/06/2008

New Delhi, Oct 6 (IANS) Next time you take to playfield and kick a football, remember that in all possibility it was created by tender yet wounded pair of hands in an obscure village in north India.Lack of consumer awareness, among others, is the main reason for well-known companies like Cosco allegedly using children in stitching footballs and robbing their childhood.

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