Publications

Vietnam's Forced Labor Centers

Publication Date: 

January 15, 2014

In 2011, Human Rights Watch released a shocking report on how Vietnamese citizens struggling with drug addiction were being beaten, tortured and forced to work in compulsory drug detention centers. Vietnamese officials reacted defensively, dismissing the report as “groundless” and asserting that the drug centers are an effective, humane method of dealing with a growing drug problem.

2013 Cotton Harvest in Uzbekistan: State Forced-Labour System Continues

Publication Date: 

November 27, 2013
This year, the cotton harvest in Uzbekistan began in early September and ended in mid-November. The Uzbek government systematically forced farmers to produce state-established quotas and children and adults to pick cotton in one of the largest state-orchestrated systems of forced labour in the world. 
 

Forced Labour in the Cotton Sector of Turkmenistan 2013, Part III

Publication Date: 

November 1, 2013

The practice of forced labor in the cotton sector began in the Soviet period and has continued without interruption to this day. It is used on a massive scale, despite the fact that cotton is no longer the chief export commodity for Turkmenistan. Every season, tens of thousands of Turkmens from cities and the countryside are forced to work in the cotton fields. Mandatory standards are set for the amount of cotton harvested, and those who refuse to go to the fields or are unable to meet the quota are either fired from work or are punished in other ways.

Forced Labour in the Cotton Sector of Turkmenistan, Monitoring the Cotton Harvest 2013

Publication Date: 

November 1, 2013

The practice of forced labor in the cotton sector began in the Soviet period and has continued without interruption to this day. It is used on a massive scale, despite the fact that cotton is no longer the chief export commodity for Turkmenistan. Every season, tens of thousands of Turkmens from cities and the countryside are forced to work in the cotton fields. Mandatory standards are set for the amount of cotton harvested, and those who refuse to go to the fields or are unable to meet the quota are either fired from work or are punished in other ways.

Still Waiting: Bangladeshi workers seek compensation

Publication Date: 

October 23, 2013

Six months after the Rana Plaza building collapse and eleven months after the Tazreen Fashions fire, the injured workers and the families who lost loved ones face immense financial hardship. In addition to the physical pain and psychological trauma, they are suffering from loss of income while continuing to await full and fair compensation from government, factory owners, and European and North American brands and retailers.

Forced labour in Turkmenistan Cotton Harvest Monitoring Report, Part II

Publication Date: 

October 1, 2013

This is the second part of the Cotton harvest campaign monitoring prepared by Alternative Turkmenistan News (ATN), a civil media initiative founded in 2010. The key message of this monitoring is that by sending tens of thousands of state-employed people to harvest cotton every autumn the Turkmen authorities for years have been violating the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Convention №105, which prohibits forced labor and Convention №29 on forced labor.

The Walmart Effect: Child and Worker Rights Violations at Narong Seafood

Publication Date: 

September 24, 2013

Each year Thailand’s shrimp industry exports hundreds of thousands of tons of shrimp, (worth roughly USD 1.5 billion) to the United States, its largest export market. The shrimp are raised on farms, peeled, cooked, processed and packaged by a low‐paid workforce that is made up almost entirely of migrant workers from Burma, Cambodia and Laos. Many of these workers are trafficked into the country by labor brokers and are often subjected to labor exploitation and debt bondage.

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