In the News

Scale of African slavery revealed

BBC News
04/23/2004

The trafficking of human beings is a problem in every African country, says the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef).

The report, which covers 53 African nations, says children are the biggest victims in what is a very complex phenomenon. It describes how they are forced into slavery, recruited as child soldiers or sold into prostitution.

In Africa, children are twice as likely to be trafficked as women.

Trade

Labor Rights Fund Hails Progress in Alien Tort Claims Act Suit Against Occidental Petroleum

04/06/2004

US State Department’s Response to Judge Gives Green Light to Human Rights Case

April 6, 2004

A human rights case against Occidental Petroleum on behalf of Colombian villagers killed in an aerial bombing raid in 1998 overcame a major impediment last week thanks to a memo from the US State Department.

Justices Hear Case About Foreigners' Use of Federal Courts

New York Times
03/31/2004

By Charles Lane

A Bush administration lawyer urged the Supreme Court to uphold the authority of federal agents to make arrests abroad and to curtail the rights of foreigners to sue the U.S. government or corporations for human rights violations abroad, in a pair of cases the administration has called crucial to its ability to fight terrorism and drug trafficking.

Olympic race: Tales of workers' woes

BBC News
03/04/2004

Sportswear firms have been accused of exploiting workers in a bid to get products onto shop shelves in time for the Athens Olympics in August.

Oxfam and UK trade unions said the companies were overriding labour standards and treating workers badly.

The accusations are based on interviews with workers and management in China, Bulgaria, Turkey, Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia.

Here are some of the comments made by those interviewed.

Phan, 22, migrant worker in a Thai garment factory

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