Slavery in the 21st Century is very much alive and thriving...
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Sept. 6, 2009 5 children die in India's cotton fields
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It's easier to not know stuff. That's where the saying, "Ignorance is bliss" originated. It's easier to just go to the store and buy that beautiful shirt, or that dress or pair of pants that make you feel like a million bucks. Why care about where it came from? Why care how it was made? All you want is to have it.
But I don't think you really want to wear a piece of clothing that a child was forced to work at somewhere along the cotton chain, do you? If you could do something to help ... really do something, you would, wouldn't you? The first thing all of us can do is just learn about the issues. Skim this article called Somebody Knows. It's illuminating. Or just click here For more reading...
But I don't think you really want to wear a piece of clothing that a child was forced to work at somewhere along the cotton chain, do you? If you could do something to help ... really do something, you would, wouldn't you? The first thing all of us can do is just learn about the issues. Skim this article called Somebody Knows. It's illuminating. Or just click here For more reading...
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Activists hail move against Uzbekistan child labour (News Feature) Business Features
By Shabtai Gold Jun 15, 2009 Geneva - Child rights activists have hailed the move by several big-name companies to boycott Uzbek cotton over allegations of child labour - but warned it was just the first step against such abusive practices.
'Every year Uzbekistan is turned into a giant labour camp,' said one activist from the Central Asian republic, recalling conditions in the cotton fields.
Children work in freezing cold temperatures and in searing heat, witnesses said. Their jobs tend to clash with school, so they end up losing out on education while the state benefits by an estimated billion dollars annually, for a product dubbed 'white gold.'
Key companies, including Asda Wal-Mart, the British Tesco, Marks and Spencer and Gap, the clothing retailer, have all agreed in recent months to pull out of Uzbekistan as the evidence of forced child labour in return for meagre salaries mounted.
'In the past four years the problem has became more known and transparent,' the READ MORE...