English newspaper

Do you even know where your jeans come from and how they are produced? Many of the jans we are wearing are from a country in Souteastern Asia, for example from Cambodia. In Cambodia there is a still growing garment industry. Most of the workers there moved from rural areas to big cities, to work there for big companies like "Nike" or "GAP". The often young and uneducated workers send home much of their monthly wages, to support their families. A worker in Phnam Penh said :"I support ten people. I have five brothers and five sisters. I have no education. I can't do anything else but work at a garment factory." This quote shows that the people who work there are desperate, because they are unducated and can do nothing but working for small wages in the garment industry. That they earn small wages and work long hours becomes particularly obvious in the scandal about H&M in 2012. in 2012 it was uncovered that the garment workers earn only 58 euros for 70 hours. Meanwhile the situation in Cambodia is just becoming better, because the Cambodians corrected the industry's problems with the help of internationaal organizations, so the labourer work now in factories monitored by such organizations. Organizations like the "International Labor Organization" are fighting against exploitation and for the rights for the workers.