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Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
Activists Know How to Stop Sexual Violence in the Garment Supply Chain. Will Brands Buy In?
Women across South and Southeast Asia are demanding an end to gender-based violence and harassment in the garment supply chain, which they say is riddled with ineffective efforts by brands that are little more than PR maneuvers meant to burnish their reputations while fostering the status quo. On Thursday, the Asia Floor Wage Alliance, Global Labor Justice and their trade union partners kicked off 'Violence Out of Fashion,' a campaign that is calling for meaningful change through binding, enforceable solutions—like the Dindigul Agreement to Eliminate Gender-Based Violence and Harassment and the more recent Central Java Agreement for Gender Justice—that safeguard freedom of association, bolster women's leadership and create union-led grievance mechanisms by centering worker voices that have long been consigned to the periphery. More from Sourcing Journal Are Amazon's Warehouses Facing an 'Injury Crisis'? Former Calik Employee Dies Following Altercation Bestseller Wants Higher Wages for Myanmar's Garment Workers. Activists Call Foul. 'We want to say, 'No more silence, no more fear,'' said Sultana Begum, president of the Green Bangla Garments Workers' Federation and a member of AFWA's women leadership committee. 'This campaign is a call for change, not just in words or on paper, but in action.' Begum has worked in Bangladesh's garment industry for more than a decade. She's been a union leader for over 25 years. In that time, she said, very little has changed, with women fending off sexual harassment and verbal and physical assault every day. They are often afraid to file complaints because doing so can lead to unemployment, which would mean starting all over again at a new factory, where there's no guarantee the same thing won't happen again. 'Sometimes it's a supervisor yelling and insulting women to work faster. Sometimes it's unwanted touching,' she said through a translator. 'Violence happens in many forms and it has become part of the production process for women workers. Many women come from their village at a young age to get a job in the RMG sector. They are overly trusting. It has happened so many times when an innocent young woman is forced into a relationship with her male supervisor.' Gender-based violence and harassment, or GBVH, isn't just a Bangladeshi problem. Or a Cambodian problem. Or an Indonesian problem. Instead, it's a 'daily reality' for millions of women in Asia making clothes for major fashion brands, said Ashley Saxby, AFWA's gender justice and Southeast Asia coordinator. The problem derives from a fundamental power imbalance in factories' gender makeup. An estimated 42 million women garment workers are employed in Asia alone, accounting for more than half of the workforce in many countries and as much as 80 percent in others, according to the International Labour Organization. Supervisors and managers on the factory floor, however, tend to be male. Because they're used to wielding bullying, harassment, intimidation and violence as 'tools of control' to speed up production and discipline workers, Saxby said, GBVH has become not a flaw, but a feature. 'And brands may be far away from the factory floor, but they drive this violence through constant pressure on suppliers to produce faster and cheaper without any real oversight, and the ones who are paying the price are women workers,' she said. 'These brands know what is happening. They know because unions have been telling them for decades. But instead of real action, we get superficial programs about gender equality because protecting their image has mattered more than protecting the women in their factories. And real accountability would mean admitting that brand-led voluntary initiatives have failed to keep women safe.' The social media part of the campaign includes an Instagram page that is publishing illustrated accounts of workers' everyday indignities. There is a woman from Bangladesh who has been slapped, pushed and struck on the head for minor transgressions. A worker from Sri Lanka must endure inappropriate questions from her supervisor or risk increased targets if she provides an unsatisfactory response. Another from Indonesia is forced to hide in a bathroom whenever auditors come calling, only to see the 'cruelty of supervisors' resume after they leave. 'Every day they have to make a hard decision: to suffer abuse or feed their families; so, they remain silent,' Yang Sophorn, president of the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions and another member of AFWA's women leadership committee, said through a translator. Speaking out could also have broader consequences, since brands 'easily move their production from one country to another and if one supplier doesn't meet their standards, they will move to another place, leaving workers jobless,' she said. But the climate of secrecy and fear is its own problem, and one that can be incredibly isolating and dehumanizing, Sophorn said. It's also why any collective power must extend beyond borders. 'Suppliers need to make sure the brands keep placing orders, so that's why they discipline their workers with violence and use threats and intimidation to keep them silent,' she added. 'The system works by silencing workers to protect their profits, not by protecting workers' rights.' While the Dindigul and Central Java agreements have been held up as success stories, they're still vastly limited in scope because they've been backed by only a handful of brands at one or two factories: Gap Inc., H&M Group and Calvin Klein owner PVH Corp. with Eastman Exports' Natchi Apparel and Eastman Spinning Mills in the former and Fanatics (and, by extension, licensor Nike) with PT Batang Apparel Indonesia and PT Semarang Garment Indonesia in the latter. Labor activists say they must serve as blueprints for more extensive, systemic efforts. It's why AWFA and GLJ, together with unions in India and Indonesia, have developed the Safety Engagement for Women Workers—or SEWW—Commitment Framework, which they will be asking brands to adopt. Based on lessons from Dindigul and Central Java, it features components that workers 'know are effective and scalable in garment supply chains around the world,' said Sahiba Gill, GLJ's deputy legal director. These include strong workplace standards for GBVH and freedom of association that incorporate and build on international labor mores, women-worker monitors who are empowered to report harassment and violence on the shop floor, grievance mechanisms that include labor management dialogue as an option for remediating harm, an oversight committee involving civil society, brand and supplier signatories, and training for workers, managers and supervisors. The framework also hinges on commitments from brands to use their supply chain leverage to fight for women's safety by creating market incentives for supplier participation and enabling protected jobs for workers through order stability. 'The solution truly is here,' Gill said. 'Now we are willing to work with brands to end gender-based violence and harassment through the SEWW framework. With the launch of this 'Violence Out of Fashion' campaign, we will be calling attention to brands that are falling short on women's safety, because there is simply no more excuse for inaction. Brands will either sign on to the SEWW framework or enable violence against the women who make their products.' Ratna, who works at PT Semarang Garment Indonesia, said she wants to see agreements like the one Fanatics agreed to 'everywhere.' The Central Java agreement, she said through a translator, isn't 'just words on paper.' Rather, it monitors and prevents GBVH on production lines before it escalates. And if harassment happens, she said, factory management will be held accountable by its biggest buyer. 'Before we had the agreement, women were afraid to speak out,' Ratna said. 'After we have this program, our complaints are taken seriously and we have the support of our union. This agreement changed my workplace, and it showed that real safety is possible. Every woman worker deserves that protection. We need brands to stop pretending they care about our safety and start signing up to these agreements.'
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Cotton Campaign urges Uzbekistan reforms to combat forced labour
This appeal follows the release of a report by the Cotton Campaign's frontline partner, Uzbek Forum for Human Rights, which highlights financial difficulties faced by farmers in Uzbekistan and the persistence of forced labour risks due to government control over the cotton harvest. According to the report titled, "There Is A Lot Of Cotton, But No One To Pick It," farmers are struggling to pay competitive wages for voluntary cotton picking due to economic pressures and government interference. The report indicates that although systemic state-imposed forced labour was previously abolished, coercive practices continue within the cotton production system. Midway through the 2024 harvest, the government reduced the price that cotton companies were required to pay farmers for their crops, disregarding the existing contracts between farmers and the companies. Allison Gill, legal director at Global Labor Justice, which hosts the Cotton Campaign, stated: "In the three years since Uzbekistan ended the use of systemic forced labour in the annual cotton harvest, forced labour and other labour rights risks still remain. Further reforms to guarantee freedom of association for farmers and workers are critical to protect the progress made so far, eliminate remaining forced labour risks, and move towards a truly sustainable industry. Such reforms will help to attract responsible sourcing, which in turn will further sustainable economic growth." Despite privatisation efforts, the Uzbekistan government maintains a significant influence over farmers by enforcing cotton production plans. Local officials, under pressure from higher authorities, have been found using coercion to meet quotas or extorting money for hiring replacement pickers. While initial media coverage of these incidents led to official statements prohibiting forced labour and a subsequent decrease in reported cases, issues persist. As per Cotton Campaign, farmers' economic conditions have deteriorated in 2024, further limiting their ability to attract voluntary labour. The Ministry of Agriculture imposed new agreements that lowered the price paid to farmers without consultation. Although subsidies were introduced to offset income loss, many farmers found them inadequate. Reports of local authorities pressuring farmers to accept reduced prices emerged, with some facing threats of non-acceptance of their cotton or loan denials if they did not comply. The government's intervention appeared as a response to concerns from cotton companies about global price volatility affecting their profitability. This move contradicted advancements made in December 2023 when a Presidential Decree granted farmers more autonomy in negotiating prices through futures contracts with cotton companies. Farmers have sought dialogue with the government on various issues affecting the cotton sector, including forced crop placement and restrictions on forming cooperatives. A collective appeal was sent to the President in November 2024, but there has been no response at the time of report publication, stated Cotton Campaign. Uzbekistan has developed a vertically integrated textile industry offering full traceability for global brands. However, to fully realise the potential of this cotton textile sector, Uzbekistan must take decisive steps to mitigate the ongoing risks of forced labour and the coercive dynamics present in the cotton industry. This involves empowering and safeguarding farmers' rights to organise and create independent associations that can represent their interests, engage in good faith negotiations with cotton companies, uphold and enforce negotiated agreements, and enhance the rule of law while preventing any interference in the contractual relationships that govern cotton supply. Cotton Campaign senior coordinator Raluca Dumitrescu said: 'To reduce risk and support the Cotton Campaign's efforts to develop a pilot program for sourcing, Uzbekistan should create an environment where terms and agreements governing cotton production and supply are negotiated and enforced in accordance with international standards.' In December last year, the Uzbek Forum for Human Rights published a report highlighting the issues, risk factors, and obligations that arise for businesses sourcing from the country's cotton and textile sectors, with an emphasis on German firms' human rights responsibilities in their supply chains. "Cotton Campaign urges Uzbekistan reforms to combat forced labour" was originally created and published by Just Style, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
