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US Textile Trade Associations Press Bangladeshi Government on Murder of Labor Leader April 20th, 2012
- Aminul Islam, slain Bangladeshi labor leader
A number of textile trade associations and unions sent a letter to the Bangladeshi Prime Minister in response to the recent murder of labor activist, Aminul Islam. Mr. Islam was a senior organizer at the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity (BCWS) and a local leader for the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation (BGIWF). Both organizations have been working to help workers combat low wages, deadly factory fires, and repression of their right to organize. This letter went to the Prime Minister through the initiative of ICCR shareholders with Wal-Mart and PVH Corp. (Phillips Van Heusen). The Missionary Oblates is an active member of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR).
Read the letter (Download PDF)
The International Labor Rights Forum sent out this information on Aminul Islam on April 12th:
Last Wednesday, Aminul Islam left his office for evening prayers. He noticed a police van parked outside and called his colleagues, worried about possible harassment. Then he went to meet with a worker. He never returned home.
His body was found a day later. According to police reports his legs had severe torture marks including a hole made by a sharp object. All his toes were broken.
Aminul was a senior organizer at the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity (BCWS) and a local leader for the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation (BGIWF). ILRF has worked with BCWS and BGIWF for many years. They have been a critical force in the effort to defend workers’ rights in a country known for sub-poverty wages, deadly factory fires, and repression of the right to organize.
Over the past two years, the government of Bangladesh has carried out a campaign of intimidation and harassment against BCWS. On June 16, 2010, Aminul was detained by security forces, beaten repeatedly and threatened with death, in an attempt to coerce him into making incriminating statements against the organization. Not long after, he and his colleagues Kalpona Akter and Babul Akhter were arrested and kept in jail for nearly a month, where they were subjected to psychological and physical abuse. Since 2010, Aminul, Kalpona and Babul have faced criminal charges for which no substantiating evidence has been presented.
Given this history, there is strong reason to suspect that Aminul’s murder was in retaliation for his efforts as a labor rights organizer and to fear this could represent a violent escalation in the repression of worker rights advocates in Bangladesh.
Join with us in calling for a thorough and impartial investigation into Aminul’s murder. BCWS and BGIWF have asked for an outpouring of letters to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. Please take a moment to add your voice!
Earth Day Calls for a Respect for Biodiversity April 16th, 2012
We are grateful to Bishop Michael Pfeifer, OMI, of the Diocese of San Angelo for his Earth Day reflection on biodiversity, and wanted to share that here. (Download PDF)
Connecticut State Senators Repeal Death Penalty Law April 9th, 2012
On April 5, the Connecticut State Senate voted 20 -16 in favor of repeal of the state’s death penalty law. The bill would replace the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of parole as the state’s harshest punishment for future crimes. The legislation would not affect sentences of the 11 inmates currently on Connecticut’s death row.
The bill now goes to the Connecticut House of Representatives, where it is considered to have a high level of support, and then to Governor who has said he would sign it into law.
Other states have passed similar measures; among them are Illinois, New Mexico and New Jersey. In California, faith leaders are leading a campaign to gather enough signatures for an initiative to throw out the death penalty by voters on the November ballot.
The Catholic Conference of Connecticut and Religious communities are pleased with the passage of the repeal of the death penalty. The Conference is engaging in a campaign through its website and in advocacy messages in parish bulletins asking parishioners to contact their elected representatives, requesting that they support the bill.
Corporations Make Strides in Conserving Water April 9th, 2012
Two companies, which the Missionary Oblates and other members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), have engaged in long-term corporate dialogs, have adopted important water-use reduction and management goals.
The Coca-Cola Company has announced a goal of becoming water neutral in their direct operations by 2020, and has taken a leadership role in corporate water management efforts. Coca Cola released its fifth annual Global Water Stewardship and Replenish Report on World Water Day (March 22nd). The company also recently released its first GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) report, an important move to increase transparency of data on its sustainability efforts.
Ford Motor Company recently announced plans to cut the amount of water used to make each of its vehicles by 30 percent, as of 2015, compared with the amount of water used in 2009. Under its Global Water Management Initiative adopted in 2000, the company had already reduced water use per vehicle by 62% as of 2010. Ford has recognized water as a material issue, along with other environmental, human rights and financial impacts on the corporation, and has identified water as one of its top priorities. Operating as it does in a number of water-stressed areas, the car manufacturer is investing in technologies that make its manufacturing processes less water intensive, as well as technologies for treating and reusing wastewater.
The Missionary Oblates JPIC Office has increasingly focused on water in its faith-consistent investment work as a vital issue affecting the health and well being of people across the globe, but especially the poor living in water-stressed and water scarce areas.
Land Grabs in Africa Leave Communities Impoverished April 5th, 2012
The problem of land grabbing in Africa and Asia by investment firms and multinational corporations is a serious and growing problem. Governments make deals with large multinational companies while thousands of poor farmers are left with inadequate compensation, low wages, polluted water and exposure to toxic agricultural chemicals that cause health problems.
While problems with land grabs abound, SOCFIN Agriculture. Co. is a particularly egregious company. Owned by French billionaire Vincent Bollore, SOCFINAF Group owns and operates plantations of rubber, oil palm and coffee in Indonesia, Cambodia, Kenya, Cameroon, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and Liberia. SOCFIN recently has secured 6,500 hectares of farmland for rubber/palm oil production in Sierra Leone.
The Oakland Institute, a California-based think-tank, has detailed a pattern of coercion, lack of consultation, and failure to fairly compensate Sierra Leonean landowners who have been pressured into ceding their land to the corporate giant. Watch this video on SOCFIN’s Sierra Leone’s operations:
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