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(Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A crackdown by the United States on cotton imports from China’s Xinjiang region is a “big red flag” that should spur retailers to ensure their supply chains are free of forced labor involving Uighur Muslims, according to a senior U.S. customs official.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said this week it would detain all imports of cotton and tomato products from Xinjiang and require companies to either prove the products were slavery-free or ship them elsewhere.
The United Nations estimates at least 1 million Uighurs and other Muslims have been detained in Xinjiang, and many are said to be put to work. China denies mistreatment and says the camps are vocational training centers needed to combat extremism.
Dozens of children are still waiting to be reunited with their families after crossing into Sudan alone to flee conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region, aid agencies said, warning that they could be at risk of abuse, trafficking and child labour.
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DHAKA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Two Bangladeshi men accused of killing and kidnapping migrants have been arrested, police said on Friday, just weeks after the country shared details of suspected human traffickers with Interpol for the first time.
Police said Jafor Eqbal, 38, who appeared on Interpol’s Red Notice list of wanted fugitives on suspicion of murder, kidnapping and deceiving job seekers, was detained in Italy earlier this month.
The second man, Shahadat Hossain, 29, who faced similar accusations on the international police force’s wanted list, was arrested in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, late last year.
“Interpol helped us a lot,” said Jisanul Hoque, a senior police official from Bangladesh’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID), adding that the two men were suspected of trafficking Bangladeshis to countries including Libya.
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JOHANNESBURG (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - From growing vegetables to spending more time with their children, women’s quality of life improved drastically after piped water was installed near their homes in rural Zambia, Stanford University researchers said on Thursday.
In a study involving 434 households in four Zambian villages, they found not having to walk to a communal water source saved each home about 200 hours per year on average - freeing up time for more productive activities.
“Women and girls benefit the most from alleviation of domestic chores and from food production for nutrition and income generation,” said Barbara van Koppen, emeritus scientist at research organisation the International Water Management Institute.
One of the Hong Kong people detained in China last year for illegal border crossing appeared in one of the city's courts on Wednesday to hear charges of arson and possession of offensive weapons related to the anti-government protests of 2019.