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This article is published in We Work At Home, Jan 2008




Action Alert



Dutch human rights activists may face deportation to India.

On December 1, the Bangalore magistrate court in India ordered the arrest of seven Dutch human rights activists from the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN), who have been campaigning around labour rights in a jeans manufacturer supplying a company called G-star. CCC and Labour Behind the Label are asking people to write to G-Star urgently asking them to guarantee freedom of speech and of association.

CCC argues that the seven activists are being targeted for their efforts to disseminate information about labour rights violations at the jeans manufacturer, Fibres and Fabrics International Pvt. Ltd. (FFI) and its subsidiary Jeans Knit Pvt. Ltd. (JKPL). The court has asked the India Ministry of Home Affairs to execute arrest warrants and request extradition of the Dutch nationals. The director of the internet service provider Antenna is also included in the request.

The CCC and ICN have been providing G-Star with information about labour rights violations at FFI/JKPL, where G-Star is the primary buyer, since 2005. To date, CCC finds that G-Star has not resolved the problems at FFI/JKPL, and argues that the factory is misusing the judicial system to censor and harass its critics.

Because they feel the situation is now extremely urgent, the CCC and ICN are now urging G-Star to suspend all future orders and works in the pipeline at FFI/JKPL until all court cases are withdrawn and a good-faith dialogue with the local union and labour rights organisations, focused on normalizing industrial relations and remediation of outstanding labour issues, has begun.

For further information please contact the Clean Clothes Campaign: www.cleanclothes.org.


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Landelijke India Werkgroep - January 14, 2008