Primark clothing label "Forced to work exhausting hours"

Primark is keen to investigate how a label bearing the hand-stitched words: "Forced to work exhausting hours" was found inside one of its dresses. Swansea shopper Rebecca Gallagher bought a floral dress at the budget retailer and was alarmed by what she found.

"I was amazed when I checked for the washing instructions and spotted this label," Gallagher told the South Wales Evening Post. "To be honest I've never really thought much about how the clothes are made. But this really made me think about how we get our cheap fashion. I dread to think that my summer top may be made by some exhausted person toiling away for hours in some sweatshop abroad."

The shopper, who says she called Primark but didn't receive a response after being placed on hold, sees the wording as a "cry for help - to let us people in Britain know what is going on", although the label's origin will be difficult to verify. While it could have been added once the garment arrived in Britain, the label may also have been sewn in by a factory employee - a mystery that Primark is attempting to unravel.

Vogue.com UK

China Might End System of Forced Labor Camps

A top government official in China has indicated the country plans to reform its forced labor camps.

Reforming China's controversial labor camps

China is a country where the rule of law is selective and often unjust. One source of injustice is the 50-year-old system known as "laodong jiaoyang," or re-education through labor. Under this system, tens of thousands of offenders are imprisoned in China without trial.

A United Nations Human Rights Council report estimates that some 190,000 Chinese were locked up in 320 re-education -- or "laojiao" -- centers in 2009. That is in addition to an estimated 1.6 million Chinese convicted in regular courts and held in the formal prison system.

The "re-education through labor" system dates back to the 1950s when the newly established communist regime swept up "counter-revolutionaries" and "class enemies" to maintain order. Today it empowers police to jail accused offenders -- from petty thieves and prostitutes to drug abusers -- for up to four years without a judicial hearing.

Though the practice is supposedly meant for only minor offenders, critics of the system say it is often used as a tool to persecute government critics, including intellectuals, human rights activists and followers of banned spiritual groups like the Falun Gong, and is a major source of human rights violations.

CNN.com

IKEA 'used East German political prisoners to make its furniture

Furniture giant IKEA used political prisoners arrested by the dreaded Stasi secret police of former East Germany to make its products in the 1970s and 80s, it has been alleged. Initially the company denied the reports but then said it had requested documents from the Stasi archive.

During the 1970s, Ikea developed a strong manufacturing base in East Germany with 65 factories producing parts and furniture. A 2011 doumentary in Germany cited documents claiming that IKEA had a 'thorough co-operation' with East German authorities.

Ikea's popular Klippan sofa was produced in East Germany at a plant situated next to a prison in Waldheim. A former prison chief said that prison labour was an 'expected part of furniture production'.

Read more at Daily Mail - We knew this last year… – We also knew that the founder of the Ikea furniture chain, Ingvar Kamprad is a not so nice guy…

Fashion Week Cancels Show of Uzbek Dictator’s Daughter

Enslaving children and torturing dissidents is never chic.

The daughter of Uzbekistan’s dictator planned to unveil her spring fashion line at New York City’s prestigious Fashion Week. But her show was cancelled after Human Rights Watch and a coalition of like-minded organizations spotlighted her connection to her father’s tyrannical government.

Gulnara Karimova isn’t just the eldest daughter of Islam Karimov – Uzbekistan’s autocratic leader since the Soviet era – she also serves as the government’s ambassador to Spain and the United Nations, a high-level position in a regime known for imprisoning and torturing political opponents and rights activists. Her father’s government forces up to two million Uzbek children to leave school for two months each year to pick cotton – a fabric woven throughout Karimova’s designs.

Karimova maintains a jet-setter lifestyle, which includes making a pop video with Julio Iglesias and launching her fashion line “Guli.” But according to a cable released by Wikileaks, US diplomats said most Uzbeks view her as “a greedy, power-hungry individual who uses her father to crush business people or anyone else who stands in her way.”

Human Rights Watch

UK Gangs Are Tricking Homeless People Into Slavery

The UK is seeing a rise in the number of rough sleepers being exploited and enslaved by criminal gangs, charities are warning, following the revelations that some of the "slaves" kept at a traveller camp in Bedfordshire were homeless people.

London-based homelessness charity Thames Reach told the Huffington Post UK that they had come across 20 cases in the last few months where people had come to them for help after fleeing captivity.

The warning comes after 24 people were found to have been allegedly held against their will and forced to work at a traveller site in Leighton Buzzard.

huffingtonpost.co.uk – More on The Guardian