Press Releases

For media inquiries please contact Rachel Cohen: racohen78 [at] gmail.com

U.S. Recognizes Labor Agreement in Decision to End Forced Labor Import Ban of Indian Garment Maker Natchi Apparels

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Lifted Ban After GLJ-ILRF Provided Evidence of the Effectiveness of New Accord for Workers’ Rights
09/07/22

Washington – Global Labor Justice-International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF) today welcomed U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) removal of Indian garment maker Natchi Apparel (owned by Eastman Exports) from its list of manufacturers banned from importing into the US for using forced labor.

GLJ-ILRF Condemns Fruit Giant Fyffe’s For Abandoning Human and Labor Rights Agreement in Honduras

After 3 years of negotiations, Fyffes refuses to sign the agreement recognizing international labor standards for up to 6,500 Honduran melon pickers.
09/06/22

Washington - Global Labor Justice-International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF) today condemned multinational fruit giant Fyffes for walking away from an international labor standards agreement with Honduran workers and their union after three years of bargaining. 

Global Coalition Calls for Concrete Steps on UN Report on Human Rights Violations in Uyghur Region, Urges Companies to Eliminate Supply Chain Ties to Forced Labour


Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region calls on corporations, governments, multilateral bodies to take swift action in response to UN report’s findings 
09/01/22

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 1, 2022
Contact: Rachel Cohen, racohen78 [at] gmail.com

REPORT: Qatar Hotels Hosting Teams & Fans at World Cup Exploited and Abused Migrant Workers

‘We Work Like Robots’ details workers’ stories of wage theft, discrimination, dangerous conditions and gender-based violence and harassment at 32 FIFA partner hotels employing an estimated 10,000 workers.
07/28/22

Register for the Press Conference on 28 July at 2PM BST 

“For nine months, we were made to work for more than 12 hours a day, without a day off. In order to keep our hours hidden, we were prevented from clocking in and clocking out. I was on the verge of going insane,”  said an Indian worker at the Holiday Villa Hotel and Residence, Doha, a FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 partner hotel.

 

D.C. Circuit Court Upholds Commerce Dept. Sanctions Against Luxury Shirt Maker With Mill in Uyghur Region

Ruling Upholds Government’s Right to Use Entity List to Combat Forced Labor
07/19/22

Washington D.C. – Global Labor Justice- International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF) today said the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals correctly ruled that Changji Esquel, a subsidiary of luxury shirt maker Esquel Group that runs a spinning mill in the Uyghur Region, should stay on the Commerce Department’s Entity List.  

Seafood Labor Activists Blast US for Thailand, Taiwan Rankings in TIP Report That Give a Pass to Widespread Worker Abuses

The Groups Say Thailand Should Have Remained on Tier 2 Watchlist and Taiwan Downgraded to Tier 2
07/19/22

Washington D.C. – Global Labor Justice-International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF) and allies in the Seafood Working Group (SWG) today said the U.S. government has given a pass to Thailand and Taiwan on widespread abuses in the countries’ fishing and seafood processing sectors by upgrading them in its latest Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. 

องค์กรแรงงานต่างๆเรียกร้องให้ไทยดำเนินการตามสัญญาที่จะยุติการใช้แรงงานบังคับในเรือนจำ

06/29/22

สำหรับเผยแพร่ทันที

Ahead of TIP Report, Labor Rights Activists Call on US to Urge Thailand and Taiwan to Stop Forced Labor and Trafficking in Seafood Industry

Seafood Working Group Recommend U.S. Downgrade Taiwan to ‘Tier 2’ and Keep Thailand on ‘Tier 2 Watchlist’
Fishing workers, Taiwan. Photo courtesy Rerum Novarum.
04/07/22

BANGKOK, Thailand – Global Labor Justice-International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF) and allies in the Seafood Working Group (SWG) today announced their findings of labor rights violations, forced labor, and human trafficking of migrant workers in

Landmark Dindigul Agreement to Eliminate Gender-Based Violence and Harassment at Eastman Exports Natchi Apparels with the Support of Global Allies

Justice for Jeyasre Victory
04/01/22

Tirupur, India (April 1, 2022) – Today Eastman Exports Global Clothing Private Limited, the Tamil Nadu Textile and Common Labour Union, the Asia Floor Wage Alliance, and Global Labor Justice- International Labor Rights Forum, along with H&M Group (H&M), jointly announce the groundbreaking Dindigul Agreement to Eliminate Gender-Based Violence and Harassment (GBVH), in the first year reaching 5,000 mostly female wor

Statement from organizations in the Seafood Working Group on Thai Government announcement that it will ban the practice of using forced prison labor to make fishing nets:

03/03/22

“Following a petition our international coalition submitted to the Biden Administration on February 11, alongside media pressure, the Thai government says it will end the use of forced labor in prisons. The petition called on the U.S.

Organizations urge U.S. to block imports of fishing nets from Thai companies over evidence of forced prison labor

Thai man making fishing net - photo by Shutterstock
02/22/22

WASHINGTON – Global Labor Justice - International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF) and partner organizations in the Seafood Working Group (SWG) are calling on the Biden Administration to ensure U.S. companies do not import fishing nets made by Thai companies that use forced prison labor. 

องค์กรต่าง ๆ เรียกร้องให้รัฐบาลสหรัฐ ฯ ระงับการนำเข้าแหอวนจากบริษัทไทย เนื่องจากหลักฐานบ่งชี้ถึงการบังคับใช้แรงงานในเรือนจำ

Thai man making fishing net - photo by Shutterstock
02/22/22

22

Thailand Downgraded in U.S. Trafficking in Persons Report Due to Failure to Address Forced Labor of Migrant Workers

07/02/21

Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Department of State released its 2021 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report on Thursday, downgrading Thailand to Tier 2 Watch List. The report found the Thai government did not demonstrate overall increasing efforts to address trafficking compared to the previous year nor has it effectively addressed the forced labor of migrant workers. Numerous reports and investigations have implicated Thailand in labor abuses and trafficking of migrant workers, particularly in the fishing, seafood and garment sectors.

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