22 August 2023
Walmart probes use of prison labour in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH - Retail giants Walmart and fashion company Centric Brands are investigating allegations that inmates at Cambodia's largest women's prison were forced to produce garments for export.

The American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) wrote to Cambodia's US Ambassador Keo Chhea last year expressing "strong concerns regarding credible reports" that inmates at Correctional Center 2 (CC2), near Phnom Penh, were producing garments and other textile products for export as part of a rehabilitation programme.

AAFA subsequently wrote a second letter to Deputy Prime Minister Aun Pornmoniroth, who is also Minister of Economy and Finance, and Pan Sorasak, Cambodia's Minister of Commerce, in February, pointing out that the import of prison-made products into the US was illegal.
https://www.ecotextile.com/202308223108 ... bodia.html

Exclusive-Walmart, Centric Probe Suppliers for Potential Links to Cambodia Women's Prison
By Reuters
Aug. 21, 2023, at 3:12 a.m.
By Clare Baldwin and Katherine Masters
PHNOM PENH/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Walmart and Centric Brands are investigating their supply chains in Cambodia over allegations that inmates at the country's largest women's prison were illegally employed to produce garments for export, following questions posed by Reuters and inquiries from a U.S. industry group about labour practices there.

The American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) wrote to Cambodia's ambassador to Washington, Keo Chhea, in November, expressing "strong concerns regarding credible reports" that inmates at Correctional Center 2 (CC2), near Phnom Penh, were producing garments and other textile products for export, including to the U.S., as part of a rehabilitation program.

Details of this and a subsequent letter from AAFA in February pressing Cambodian officials on the matter, both reviewed by Reuters, are being reported for the first time. Neither letter named the companies allegedly involved.

International trade of goods made by convicts is illegal in the U.S. and in Cambodia, which has received preferential U.S. trade terms on billions of dollars of products over recent years. The International Labour Organization (ILO), of which Cambodia is a member, permits prison labour provided it is not forced.

Cambodian Ministry of Commerce Secretary of State Sok Sopheak, who chaired an inter-ministerial committee investigating AAFA's allegations, told Reuters that Cambodia had fined three local companies $50,000 each and suspended their export licenses for three months through July 31 for using CC2 inmates to sew hotel slippers for export to the European Union and Japan. The value of the slippers exported last year was about $190,000, he said.

The companies, which Sopheak confirmed were W Dexing Garment (Cambodia), IGTM (Cambodia) and Chia Ho (Cambodia) Garment Industrial, did not respond to requests for comment. Reuters could not determine which hotels ordered the slippers.

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said it had visited CC2 and raised concerns with authorities about forced labour. It said it learned in February that Cambodia was investigating and that the prison workshops had been suspended.

AAFA's first letter was copied to Pan Sorasak, Cambodia's commerce minister, and Ken Loo, secretary-general of the Textile, Apparel, Footwear and Travel Goods Association in Cambodia. AAFA's second letter added Aun Pornmoniroth, Cambodia's economy and finance minister, who is also a deputy prime minister. None of the government officials addressed in AAFA's correspondence responded to questions from Reuters. Loo said his trade group "constantly" reminds members to comply with local law and international labour standards.

Four people familiar with the matter, including two former CC2 inmates, said other items produced in the prison appeared to be linked to Walmart and Centric Brands, the licensing partner for IZOD and other labels including Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Under Armour. Both Walmart and Centric source goods from Cambodia.

The people showed Reuters a reusable Walmart-branded shopping bag and a polo shirt with IZOD branding which they said were made in the prison factories where the inmates had worked and which they said they brought out with them upon their release, the most recent in January. Reuters is not disclosing their identities, nor those of two other inmates interviewed for this report, due to concerns about their safety.

Information printed on the items' tags – names of importers, style numbers and shipment codes, and codes issued by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission – indicated they were destined for the U.S. and Canada, trade records from data providers Panjiva and ImportGenius show. The records do not disclose the factory of origin, supply-chain movements or subcontracting relationships within Cambodia, and Reuters could not independently establish whether the items were made in the prison.

The U.S. companies, along with Walmart importer Travelway Group International, said they were investigating their supply chains in response to Reuters' queries.
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/artic ... ens-prison

First it was the monkeys, now it's the trainers...

When will this government criminality stop???

Doesn't America itself use prison labour in private prisons? I don't understand the hypocrisy

Walmart, Centric Brands probe Cambodian supply chains for alleged inmate forced labor
Former prisoners said they were paid as low as $1.75 a month
Carl Samson
August 23, 2023
Walmart and clothing manufacturer Centric Brands are reportedly investigating their Cambodian supply chains over claims that they illegally employ inmates through forced labor.

The allegations: Inmates at Correctional Center 2, Cambodia’s largest women’s prison, are allegedly illegally employed to produce garments and other textile products for export as part of a rehabilitation program. Speaking to Reuters, former inmates claimed that some of the items appeared linked to Walmart and Centric Brands, which both source from Cambodia.

The ex-inmates said they made shirts, trousers, slippers and shopping bags. They allegedly worked standard hours for a measly $1.75 to $5 a month.
Some said they did not have employment contracts and that prison guards simply took their names before they ended up at the factories. Those who refused to work were allegedly transferred cells or forced to kneel, while others paid prison guards to evade the labor.

Legal status of prison labor: Cambodian law allows private individuals and organizations to enter into contracts that would allow inmates to work for them. However, forced labor and the export of goods produced by prisoners are both illegal.

The allegations risk Cambodia’s eligibility for the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences, which grants duty-free benefits to eligible developing nations based partly on their prohibition of forced labor. Cambodia reportedly exported $2 billion worth of goods to the U.S. in 2020 through the program.
In full: https://nextshark.com/walmart-centric-b ... rced-labor

HaifongWangchuck wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 6:24 am Doesn't America itself use prison labour in private prisons? I don't understand the hypocrisy

Well yes but US prisoners gets compensation for their work? Here we talk about forced labour it seems which would be more like a old fashioned Gulag.

Even if its true that they get 5$ a month that does not change my view on it.