INDIA/ THE NETHERLANDS:

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNS LEGAL HARASSMENT OF CLEAN CLOTHES CAMPAIGN:

As reported previously here at Molly's Blog (see Clothing Bosses Continue Legal Attempts to Suppress Solidarity Campaigns, September 29th 2007) clothing bosses in India have taken legal action against the international labour support group, Clean Clothes Campaign, in regards to their protests around the treatment of women workers in Fibres and Fabrics International and Jeans Knit in Bangalore India. They have actually obtained arrest warrants against some members of the CCC and even the web-hoster that their site is on. The above blog here at M'sB tells how you can join the international campaign against this legal atrocity.

Amnesty International has issued a statement regarding this matter. They note that "the practice of filing apparently unsubstantiated criminal charges against defenders of workers' rights in several parts of India is not new, and that the Indian authorities have repeatedly failed to take action in prevent this practice." They further note that India, as a signatory of the International Covenant on civil and Political Rights has obligations to safeguard freedom of expression and association. Amnesty has called on both the government of the state of Karnataka and the Indian national Human Rights Commission to safeguard freedom of expression in Bangalore, to investigate the matter of these charges, to drop the present charges against the activists and also to correct the inhumane working conditions of the women working in the two firms mentioned. To read the full report go to the link above.