Aruna Kashyap
Human Rights Watch
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Past articles by Aruna:
Workers Sue Dyson on Allegations of Forced Labor in Malaysian Supplier
Migrant workers from Nepal and Bangladesh are suing a widely recognized British brand, household appliance manufacturer, Dyson, over complaints of forced labor and other dangerous working conditions at one of its supplier factories in Malaysia. → Read More
Covid-19 Vaccine Producers Have Human Rights Responsibilities
Over the last few weeks, the relief brought on by the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out has been marred by supply delays and growing concerns around inequitable access. → Read More
Is Your Business Funding Myanmar Military Abuses?
The military coup in Myanmar this week should sound alarm bells in corporate boardrooms around the world. Since Myanmar’s transition from decades of military dictatorship to a civilian government began in 2011, transnational businesses have cautiously reentered the country. But the coup highlights the question company directors should already have been asking: “Is our company directly or… → Read More
Commentary: Questions to ask clothing brands
Last year, I huffed my way up a steep, narrow flight of stairs to meet a man who owned a small garment workshop in western India. The workshop - with → Read More
How to Fight Sexual Harassment at Work? Empower Women Workers through Trade Unions
No-one was within earshot, but Roja (not her real name), a garment worker, spoke in whispers as we walked in a park on a Sunday, her day off, in Mysore city in southern India. She described how her line supervisor constantly called her after work asking for sexual favors, promising lighter work or leave time. When she went to the factory management to complain, they sneered at → Read More
Where do Apparel Companies Stand on Women Workers?
Will the fashion industry throw its weight behind the global #MeToo movement? The next few months will tell us how committed apparel companies are to fighting harassment and discrimination in their supply chains. → Read More
Cambodia’s imaginary enemies
Jorge Luis Borges’s “Book of Imaginary Beings” has a real-world equivalent in Cambodia. Call it the Book of Imaginary Enemies. → Read More
When Clothing Labels Are a Matter of Life or Death
Five years after 1,134 people died in the Rana Plaza garment factory catastrophe, what’s changed? → Read More
Cambodia’s Imaginary Enemies
Jorge Luis Borges’s Book of Imaginary Beings has a real-world equivalent in Cambodia. Call it the Book of Imaginary Enemies. This imagined book would tell tales of government attacks against rights activists, journalists and other peaceful critics deemed a threat to the government. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s subordinates have been working overtime to fabricate new “imagined enemies”. The… → Read More
Mangoes and Workers’ Health and Safety Rights
How can a mango craving spiral into a labor dispute? I was talking with garment workers in Cambodia when I heard the mango story. → Read More
The April 24 Ritual – Rana Plaza’s Unfinished Legacy
Every year on April 24, I browse through a poignant online memorial for garment workers who died in 2013 in the Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh. The website is a collection of national IDs, passport-size and other photos—a man posing with a phone, a woman against a backdrop of flowers, and appointment letters of workers. It’s a strong reminder of the human cost of negligence in the… → Read More
Tackling Sexual Harassment in the Garment Industry
“Whore.... Do you think this is a brothel? You must meet the production demand here. If you want to continue to work here, listen to us.” This nasty threat is a snapshot of the harassment that supervisors and managers heap on many Bangladeshi garment workers. Workers say many factory bosses lash out like this for things as simple as attempting to exercise the right to refuse overtime or take… → Read More
Bangladesh Textile Mill Burns, Yet Again
[[nid:309270 field_ne_alignment=center]] A fire in Ideal Textile Mills in Bangladesh killed at least six workers this week, reportedly after sparks from welding set ablaze inflammable chemicals stored close by. → Read More
Bangladesh Accord: New phase should protect unions
Apparel companies involved in a widely hailed effort to protect garment workers in Bangladesh factories from harm need to take another step to make sure the gains are sustainable. Making that happen depends in large part on workers' ability to organise and to call out dangerous conditions without fear of being beaten or fired, says Aruna Kashyap, senior counsel for the women's rights division of… → Read More
Indian Women Have Right to Live Without Fearing Sexual Assault
On Friday, May 5, 2017, the Indian Supreme Court upheld the death sentences of four men convicted of rape in the brutal 2012 gang-rape of a 23-year-old student in Delhi that garnered outrage both in India and abroad. Women’s rights groups across India rallied for justice and found public support – no one wants men who committed such a heinous crime roaming free. → Read More
Hope for Garment Workers with European Parliament’s Vote
“Europeans should not wear clothes made by exploiting garment workers,” Lola Sanchez Caldentey, a member of the European Parliament, boldly declared yesterday. She was speaking at an event commemorating the victims of the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster, when the eight-story building collapsed in Bangladesh, killing over 1,100 garment workers. → Read More
A Message to Global Brands from a Rana Plaza Survivor
“Sometimes I just can’t sleep without pills. I keep remembering how many people died that day.” Shabana, her name changed to protect her privacy, survived three days buried in the rubble of Rana Plaza, an eight-story building with five garment factories that collapsed in Bangladesh in 2013. → Read More