Target's rape factory

Thousands of Change.org members have already spoken out against abuses at what's becoming known as the "rape factory" in Jordan.

“We only went to Jordan to earn money to help our families; we had no idea that factory managers would rape so many of us young girls,” said a young woman who goes by the name Nazma to protect her identity.

Nazma is one of the dozens of Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi young women who have been sexually assaulted by supervisors at Classic Factory in northern Jordan, which makes clothes for American brands like Walmart, Target, and Macy's.

Leading up to next week’s trial against a Classic supervisor charged with rape -- the first such trial -- managers are escalating abuses. Supervisors are locking victims and witnesses in the factory, threatening and intimidating them to ensure they will not testify.

And although the Jordanian government promised that Anil Santha, the manager accused of rape, would not be allowed to return before the trial, he's back on the factory floor.

Despite global outcry over Classic’s abuses and the tactics they’re using to dodge justice, international customers like Walmart, Target, and Macy's are still buying Classic clothing.

Given the critical situation on the ground, Classic Factory workers, consumers, and human rights organizations, are urgently calling on these high-profile companies to immediately condemn human rights abuses and force change. Click here to sign the petition now.

Target and Macy's have claimed that they are investigating conditions at the factory, but they're deferring to the Jordanian Ministry of Economy and Labor -- which claims there is no evidence of sexual abuse.

Instead, conditions are getting worse. In addition to imprisoning women inside the factory, managers are removing all the males workers -- in some cases even deporting them -- cutting the staff to older male supervisors and vulnerable young women.

At Classic's urging, the government also arrested the leader of an outside human rights NGO and took his passport to prevent him from intervening to protect the women at the factory.

“All we can do is cry,” Nazma said. “We ask the people who buy our garments, please end this abuse and torture we face. We should be able to work without fear of sexual assault.”

http://www.change.org/

scenario of shipping off jobs to third world countries AND to hear about stuff like this so I can save $2 on a pair of jeans?

It's horrible, horrible, horrible, and crap you thought had died out in the 19th century.

Beyond disgusted.

The only place I've ever heard of anything remotely like a rape factory is in the works of the Marquis de Sade.

This isn't rape during war, when all other rules are suspended.

This isn't an isolated individual, making the most of what temporary power he has.

This is systemic policy.

It's so disgusting and horrible IN THE FACT that it is systematic and not during war or any other times when civilization's rules are disregarded.

when the labor that is "traded" is being taken by force and not freely given.

This is not free trade, this is slavery.

A lack of tariffs did not suddenly convince the attackers it was economically feasible to attack women. You could replace the tariffs tonight and the attacks would continue. If the factory were closed and the women all went home the brutes would still be brutes and they would find their victims elsewhere.

What would help these women most is to convince the brutes that women are not chattel and to prosecute those who fail to get the message so harshly that none dare follow their example.

"What would help these women most is to convince the brutes that women are not chattel and to prosecute those who fail to get the message so harshly that none dare follow their example."

Is this meant to be ironic? You don't think the corporations that pay these women < $1.00 a day treat them like "chattel"? You know--the same multinational corporations who systematically employ these rapist overseers to demean, diminish, and dehumanize these women?

Ridiculous! :hi:

The victims could be paid $20/hour and still be raped. Why isn't the government arresting the perpetrators? The perps need to be punished, not fired.

You defend part of it, you defend it all.

Plenty of workers come into the US and are paid crap wages but the meat processing plant down the street isn't engaged in wholesale rape because 1) there is a difference between plain greed and the barbarity being perpetrated and 2) "illegal" or not the company is 1 phone call away from being shutdown because the local, state and federal governments of the US would never tolerate such things. The victims in this story were dehumanized in the eyes of their attackers long before they were paid their first pay check.

No one any where is this entire thread is defending rape or low wages. So please stop trying to shame me into silence because I disagree with the diagnosis of the root cause. If I'm not fixated on wage amounts it is because I'm too concerned about human dignity and safety and I can't really say I'm sorry about that.

If letting Target and other companies know that I'm aware of what is going on and they should stop buying from such vendors then every tool helps fix the problem but even then the real problem isn't Target, it's the rapists.

leaving primarily the brutalized female workers and elderly male workers.


"If I'm not fixated on wage amounts it is because I'm too concerned about human dignity and safety and I can't really say I'm sorry about that."

Sounds like you're invested in defending cheap labor, to me.

It sounds like you're willing to condone rape so long as the wages are high enough. It sounds like you don't care about women as much as you're interested in taking down your corpoate bogey men. How does that show fit?

seriously?

:grr:

:cry:

It's kind of redundant.

…than if it is happening in another country halfway around the world.

But the real question is are the Teabaggers happy?

Wal-Mart, Hanes, Target, Macy’s, Lands’ End, Kohl’s and Jones Group.