By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network New York (IDN) — False or misleading posts on Facebook and Instagram are being blamed for enabling human traffickers who recruit African women to be ferried to Saudi Arabia and other countries with promises of visas and jobs. Instead, the women are held captive, denied access to food and […]
Suicides, Not Accidents, Are the Biggest Killer in The Construction Industry
By Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY (IDN) — It is news, when a worker falls off a construction site and dies, but not necessarily when a construction worker commits suicide. It may be a slow and quiet death, which the employers and the workers’ family may not like to talk about. In the USA, the Centre for […]
New Accord Set To Improve Workers’ Health and Safety In Bangladesh Garment Factories
This article is transmitted under a new partnership between IDN-InDepthNews and Uni Apro, a Regional Organisation of Services workers in Asia Pacific, part of UNI@uniglobalunion. By Kim Lui SINGAPORE (IDN) — Representatives from international textile retailers have reached a new, 26-month agreement with UNI Global Union and IndustriALL that builds on the progress made by […]
The Menace of Human Trafficking—A Canadian Perspective
Viewpoint by Anusha Jaura-Sindhwani* Human trafficking is one of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with 169 targets endorsed by the international community in 2015. Goal 8.7 aims at “immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms […]
Deportation of Africans Cancelled After Reports of Torture by the US Immigration Service
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — A plane carrying Cameroonian, Angolan and Congolese asylum seekers due to take off from Alexandria, Louisiana, was cancelled with minutes to spare after advocacy groups published affidavits by detainees of torture by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. The affidavits listed a host of violent […]
Chocolate Multinationals Collude with Mali’s Child Slavery Rings
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — A federal class-action suit filed on behalf of eight Malian citizens against Nestle SA, Cargill, Hershey and Mars, Inc. among others for their alleged complicity in the trafficking and forced labour of African children, is now under review by the US Supreme Court. The plaintiffs […]
COVID-19 Highlights the Global Structural Dependence on Exploitable Labour
Viewpoint by Randall Hansen* TORONTO (IDN) – In November 2019, a federal government official visited the University of Toronto’s Munk School and asked its faculty to delineate coming global threats. We spoke of inequality, hunger, climate change, sanitation, and plastic pollution, among others. No one mentioned a microbe; a discussion of the threat of immunity […]
A German Law Might Put an End to Human Rights Violations in Supply Chains
Viewpoint by Franziska Korn, Friedich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES)* BERLIN (IDN) – For over half a decade, the German government has been working to enact mandatory compliance for companies regarding human rights and environmental protection in their supply chains. The United Nations has also pushed for this measure. Adopted in 2011 by the UN Human Rights Council, the […]
Entrepreneurship for Structural Transformation in LDCs Is Possible
By Paul Akiwumi The writer, a national of Ghana, is UNCTAD’s Director of the Division for Africa, Least Developed Countries and Special Programmes. This article was first published in The EastAfrican, print edition (20-26 July 2019). GENEVA (IDN-INPS) – Meskerem is a middle-aged Ethiopian woman, who runs a café and bakery with ten employees in […]
Huawei Will Give $300 Million A Year to Universities with No Strings Attached
Its new fundamental research division could help the company regain international favour and outmanoeuvre the U.S. By Karen Hao | Technology Review The writer is the artificial intelligence reporter for MIT Technology Review. In particular she covers the ethics and social impact of the technology as well as its applications for social good. This article […]