YCS Reads!

  H&M Is the First Major Fashion Chain to List Suppliers for All Garments to Combat Slavery The fashion industry is rife with slavery and labour abuses. LONDON, April 24 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) — Fashion brand H&M has become the first major retailer to list individual supplier details for each garment on its website to increase transparency in an industry with high risks of slavery and labour abuses. The Sweden-based multinational's move was hailed by workers rights groups who said it was a step forward, but added that the data may not be particularly meaningful to shoppers without additional information to put it into context. "This is innovative and good," Anna Bryher advocacy director at Britain's Labour Behind the Label, which campaigns for garment workers' rights, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Maybe H&M need to think a bit more about how to make that information live and useful to consumers — adding information for ex...

  The Developed World Is Missing the Point About Modern Slavery Rakib works in a parts-making shop in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on June 17, 2015. Children in Bangladesh are often employed to do hard manual labor K M Asad—LightRocket/Getty Images E arlier this month, the Walk Free Foundation — an Australian NGO — released the first ever “ modern slavery index ,” which hoped to highlight the countries most affected by modern slavery, and the countries that still need to resolve the problem. The countries that scored worst are, perhaps unsurprisingly, all in the developing world: North Korea, Uzbekistan, Cambodia, India, China and Qatar. The countries that performed best were all in Europe and North America. Like many studies from Western NGOs, it would appear that Walk Free’s findings shed light on wrongs done elsewhere, but avoid looking closer to home (such as the conditions of aboriginal Australians and the labor exploitation on Australian-owned mines in Africa ). Their index...

  Cambodia's rapid urbanisation fuels child labour New buildings are popping up across Cambodia as its construction industry continues to flourish. However, a closer look into local brick production reveals the country's rapid urbanisation is driving one of the most common forms of modern slavery. A young girl sits on a mini-tractor parked inside a brick factory on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. (Photo: Pichayada Promchertchoo) New buildings are popping up across Cambodia as its construction industry continues to flourish. However, a closer look into local brick production reveals the country...