Indian leather workers ârisk health, lifeâ to make shoes for global market           A labourer carries an empty basket after putting leather scrap on a burning oven for making fertilisers at a factory on the outskirts of Kolkata February 22, 2017. â Reuters picMUMBAI, March 16 â About 2.5 million Indian workers work long hours with toxic chemicals for poverty wages in the countryâs leather industry, making shoes and clothes for Western brands, a study has found. In a report published yesterday, the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN), a human rights organisation, called for greater transparency in supply chains. The study mapped the leather industry hubs of Agra in Indiaâs north, Kolkata in the east and the VaniyambadiâAmbur cluster in the southern state of Tamil Nadu that supply hides, leather, garments, accessories and footwear for export. âWhile more employment was created in the leather industry through the growth of large-scale export centres, no attention was paid to the nature and quality of the employment created,â ICN said in the report. âAccidents regularly occur with machine operators getting trapped, workers cleaning underground waste tanks suffocating from toxic fumes, or workers drowning in toxic sludge at the tannery premises,â it said. India is the worldâs second largest producer of footwear and leather garments and almost 90 per cent of Indiaâs footwear exports go to the European Union, the research states. In small, unregulated factories, workers have no social security cover such as…more detail
Indian leather workers ârisk health, lifeâ to make shoes for global market Life
Over half of Rohingya girls who fled violence became child brides, says UN survey
Over half of Rohingya girls who fled violence became child brides, says UN survey File picture shows Rohingya migrants looking out the window of a shelter they are staying at since being rescued along with hundreds of others on Sunday from boats in Lhoksukon, Indonesia's Aceh Province May 12, 2015. - Reuters picKUALA LUMPUR, May 4 - More than half of Rohingya Muslim girls who fled violence in western Myanmar ended up becoming child brides, according to a United Nations survey that also showed widespread domestic abuse. Since 2012, violence and communal clashes in Myanmar's Rakhine state have forced more than 168,000 of the ethnic Muslim Rohingya minorities to flee, including a rising number of women and girls, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR. In a survey of 85 Rohingya women and girls who have fled to India, Malaysia and Indonesia, UNHCR found about 60 per cent married before the age of 18. The average age that they gave birth to their first child was 18. One in every three women and girls also said they were victims of domestic violence, according to UNHCR's 2016 Report on Mixed Movements in Southeast Asia. "We generally counsel them about their options and, if they agree, refer them to a partner or shelter that cares for vulnerable women," UNHCR Asia spokeswoman Vivian Tan told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The growing number of Rohingya women and girls fleeing persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar has raised concern that they may be vulnerable to human trafficking,…... [read more]
In threat to food security, Bangladesh moves to burn grain for fuel
DHAKA: Bangladesh plans to begin turning some of the grain it produces into ethanol to make its fuel greener - but economists and experts warn the move could hurt food security in a country that is already a grain importer. Energy ministry officials said in a gazette notification early this year that the country will begin using maize, broken rice grains and molasses to produce ethanol to mix with petrol fuel at a 5 percent ratio. But in a heavily populated country that produces relatively little in the way of climate-changing emissions and that already relies on imports of maize and other grains, the result could be rising food prices, especially for the poor, economists, business leaders and environmental experts warned. Moshiur Rahman, who convenes the Bangladesh Poultry Industries Coordination Committee, called the move to begin using grain for fuel "suicidal". Much of Bangaldesh's maize is used to feed animals, including chickens. But the country grows only half of the maize it needs, importing the rest from the United States and Brazil, he said, which means rising demand could mean rising prices. "Maize prices will go up if it is used for ethanol production. The price of eggs and chicken will go beyond the reach of common people," Rahman warned. He said growing concerns about food security have led other countries - including China - to stop giving permission for new biofuel projects. FOOD TO FUEL According to a study by Bangladesh's energy ministry, the country could produce 18 million…... [read more]
Understanding Syria: London museum invites visitors to ask refugees
At a museum in the heart of London, visitors from across the globe were invited to sit down with Syrian refugees and aid workers to ask any questions in a bid to convey the complexity of the Syrian conflict, now in its seventh year. The pop-up Conflict Cafe at the Imperial War museum kickstarted a string of exhibitions on the conflict, weeks after a chemical attack brought renewed international attention to the plight of civilians in the country. Ammar Al-Saker, a 21-year-old refugee from Damascus, told a small crowd of museum visitors gathered around a table about his journey from Syria through Lebanon, Macedonia and Spain until he was recently granted asylum in Britain. "For the first time, it feels like I'm an important person," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Saker and other Syrians now living in London shared stories of surviving without electricity during the war, military conscription at home and leaving their families behind. Two exhibitions will be on display at the museum until September, including a photography display showing daily life in Syria and the journeys undertaken by Syrians to Europe as well as a film installation explaining the conflict. "The main idea was to try and give the public a basic introduction to what is a very complicated conflict," Christopher Phillips, a curator for one of the exhibitions told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "A lot of the time people use simplistic explanations and stereotypes: a religious war between Sunnis and Shiahs or a proxy war…... [read more]
Skin lightening under fire as Indians seek whiter shade of pale
The one with the palest skin, of course. Or that's the idea behind India's multibillion-dollar skin lightening industry, with a host of "fairness" products appearing to offer dark-skinned Indians a lighter, fairer, better version of themselves. Now the industry has come under fire after a popular Bollywood actor lashed out at India's obsession with fair skin and highlighted a persistent bias against darker faces. "You have to stop buying into the idea that a particular shade is better than others," Abhay Deol, an actor known for playing offbeat roles, said on his Facebook page this month. Abhay lambasted his Bollywood peers - including Shah Rukh Khan, John Abraham, Shahid Kapur and Deepika Padukone - for endorsing so-called fairness brands and urged them to stop using their popularity to peddle products he called racist. "(These) campaigns are blatantly, and sometimes subtly, selling you the idea that whiter skin is better than darker skin," said Abhay. Nor fair Controversy around "fairness" products has raged for decades, with darker skin shades variously described as "dusky" and "wheatish", and lighter tones sold as more attractive. The market - which includes creams, face washes, deodorants, even a vaginal whitener - is estimated to be worth about 270 billion rupees (RM17.4 billion) and is growing at a steady clip. Unilever Plc's Hindustan Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Nivea, Garnier and Emami are among those making fairness products. Hindustan Unilever's Fair & Lovely, launched in 1975, is India's best known fairness brand, and claims to be the world's…... [read more]
Female clerics declare fatwa on child marriage in Indonesia
In this photograph taken on January 15, 2017, a newly married woman and her husband (second left) get ready to pose for a portrait during their wedding reception at the Al Meroz hotel in Bangkok. - AFP picKUALA LUMPUR, April 28 -Â Female clerics yesterday issued an unprecedented fatwa against child marriage in Indonesia in a bid to stop young girls becoming brides in the world's most populous Muslim country. The fatwa - which is influential among Muslims but not legally binding - came at the end of an extraordinary three-day conference of female Islamic clerics: a rare example of women assuming a lead role in religious affairs in this mostly-Muslim country. "Maternal mortality is very high in Indonesia. We - as female clerics - can play a role on the issue of child marriage," conference organiser Ninik Rahayu told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Female clerics know the issues and obstacles women face, we can take action and not just wait for the government to protect these children," she said by phone from Cirebon in the West Java province, where the congress was held. Indonesia has one of the worst records for under-age marriage - its high number of child brides puts it among the top 10 countries worldwide - and it is common for girls to marry before they turn 18. Yesterday's fatwa, or religious edict, called underage marriage "harmful" and said its prevention was mandatory. Fallout of early wedlock One in six Indonesian girls marry before they turn…... [read more]
Mobile phones make reporters of Indian villagers to fix problems
Mobile phone-based reporting platform CGNet Swara lets villagers in parts of central and eastern India to use their mobile phones to report and resolve everyday problems. - Reuters picRAIPUR, April 27 - Villagers in parts of central and eastern India are using their mobile phones to report and resolve problems, from unpaid wages to a lack of handpumps, highlighting the increasing role of technology in tackling inequalities in the developing world. Mobile phone-based reporting platform CGNet Swara, developed by former journalist Shubhranshu Choudhary and Bill Thies of Microsoft Research India, has logged more than 575,000 calls and published nearly 7,000 stories since its launch in 2010. It is now betting on cheaper mobile internet services and new technologies to expand its reach, said Choudhary. "Much of mainstream media and all of social media is largely for educated, urban, mostly English-speaking people," he said. "This is a platform for people on the wrong side of the digital divide, a more democratic medium for those who have never had the opportunity to speak and be heard." India is the world's second largest mobile phone market by users after China with more than one billion subscribers, thanks to cheap handsets and among the lowest call rates in the world. But a divide persists: While about 60 per cent of urban Indians use the internet, less than a fifth of rural Indians do. 'Swara' means voice in Hindi, and CG stands for Central Gondwana, the region across central and eastern India where the indigenous…... [read more]
Green the red: Indian city breaks taboos for sustainable menstruation
Suddenly, the traditional method of burying used pads with lots of lime to decompose them was not working - and the pads were just piling up in disposal pits on the leafy campus designed by eco-friendly architect Laurie Baker in the 1970s. "It took us a while to realise that manufacturers were using increasing amounts of non-biodegradable plastics in the pads," professor J. Devika, who is leading waste management efforts at the centre, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "All efforts to dispose of them were suddenly failing." The campus committee decided to talk about the problem, breaking the silence around menstruation and holding numerous meetings with reticent students to see how to reduce the waste. Today, the students - both male and female - are part of Thiruvananthapuram's collective effort to "green the red" - a sustainable menstruation project promoted by the city's civic authority. From vending machines dispensing cotton pads to awareness campaigns and higher disposal fees for girls and women using disposable pads, the city of more than 1.5 million is taking measures to switch to eco-friendly menstruation products. "In the next one month, we are looking at placing vending machines in schools, colleges and public spaces that will dispense three (cotton) pads of 10 rupees (less than RM4)," said Rakhi Ravikumar, deputy mayor of Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala state. "There are manufacturers willing to partner with us and we are determined to push this through." In India, women have traditionally used scrap cloth from old saris or towels,…... [read more]
New app allows user to walk a mile in a Rohingya refugees shoes
"Kat, r u safe?" he writes. "It was a raid, they found us. Had to run," he said, before sending a video message of him running in a jungle that was abruptly cut off. It was a conversation between Kathijah, a fictional character, and her brother in Myanmar on a new smartphone app that gives users a glimpse into the daily struggles of Rohingya refugees who flee political persecution back home. The "Finding Home" app effectively takes over one's phone by recreating the mobile operating system of Kathijah's handset, prompting users to answer phone calls, text messages or scroll through her photo gallery. Advertising agency Grey, which built the app in partnership with the UN refugee agency UNHCR, said the "revolutionary" app aims to increase public empathy toward the plight of refugees. "We wanted to find a way of getting people to really empathise what these people go through, to feel it as if they were going through it," Graham Drew, Grey Malaysia executive creative director, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The app focuses not just on her life back home, but also on how the 16-year-old Kathijah is trying to build a new life in Malaysia. One conversation involves her talking to a friend about how she is taking classes in English and Malay. There are some 150,000 refugees in Malaysia, about a third of whom are Rohingya Muslims who have fled violence and apartheid-like conditions in western Rakhine state in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. Many are children who experience struggles…... [read more]
Transgender sex trafficking survivor hopes her story will help others
A reveller waves a flag during a gay pride parade, organised by the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, in downtown Montevideo September 27, 2013. - Reuters picWASHINGTON, April 25 - As a homeless transgender woman, Dessai Scott felt she had nowhere to turn when her boyfriend started to sell her for sex, but she hopes going public about her ordeal can help other trafficking victims. Having transitioned from a boy to a girl when she was 12, Scott was thrown out of her home at age 16 when her mother died, allowing her then boyfriend to exploit her. Scott, now 22, said it took two years and several escape bids before she finally broke free, supported by U.S. non-profit FAIR Girls that works to prevent exploitation of girls, and she hopes her story will give other victims courage to seek help. Studies show transgender youth, who are over-represented among the homeless and runaways, are particularly at risk of sex trafficking and less likely to seek help, fearing discrimination. "I just wish I'd known there was support and help there for me," said Scott, who will speak today at Trust Conference/America Forum, a one-day event run by the Thomson Reuters Foundation on the fight against slavery and human trafficking. Scott, who grew up in Washington, DC, is studying to be a nurse. "I don't know about elsewhere, but in DC transgender people are only seen as good for sex and get no respect," she said. "I can't count the…... [read more]
Chinas Christmas Town opens doors to Middle East migrants but future uncertain
China's 'Christmas Town' opens doors to Middle East migrants but future uncertain Alo-baidi Yousif (centre), an Iraqi child born in China, sits with other children in a kindergarten in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province 11 January 2017. - Thomson Reuters picYIWU, April 25 - As Europe and the United States crack down on migrants from the Middle East and Africa, China is welcoming those with money with the boomtown of Yiwu, known as "Christmas Town", luring business-savvy Syrians, Yemeni, Libyans and Iraqis. Although China doesn't have laws recognising refugees, it grants visas to people from war-torn countries who can afford to live in the country, paying language course fees or business taxes from their own pocket. The rapid rise of Yiwu as a business centre since the early 2000s has proved an attraction for migrants wanting to rebuild their lives. The eastern city of 1.2 million people, 285 km (180 miles) south of Shanghai, is nicknamed "Christmas Town" for producing 60 per cent of the world's Christmas decorations - as well as a host of other goods from socks to plastic toys and electronics. A Yiwu government report showed that in 2016 the city issued 9,675 people temporary residence permits, a 17 per cent rise on the previous year, of which over 4,000 were to those from war-torn countries including Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Afghanistan. Iraqis were the biggest group to apply for residence permits in China in 2016 with other applications from Yemen, India, Syria, Afghan, Pakistan, Egypt, Iran, Mali and…... [read more]
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