International trade of goods made by convicts is illegal in the United States and in Cambodia, which has received preferential US trade terms on billions of dollars of products over recent years
and Centric Brands are investigating their supply chains in Cambodia over allegations that inmates at the country’s largest women’s prison were illegally employed to produce garments for export, following questions posed by Reuters and inquiries from a US industry group about labor practices there.
Cambodian Ministry of Commerce Secretary of State Sok Sopheak, who chaired an inter-ministerial committee investigating AAFA’s allegations, told Reuters that Cambodia had fined three local companies $50,000 each and suspended their export licenses for three months through July 31 for using CC2 inmates to sew hotel slippers for export to the European Union and Japan. The value of the slippers exported last year was about $190,000, he said.
Four people familiar with the matter, including two former CC2 inmates, said other items produced in the prison appeared to be linked to Walmart and Centric Brands, the licensing partner for IZOD and other labels including Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, and Under Armour. Both Walmart and Centric source goods from Cambodia.
“We find the allegations very concerning,” a Walmart spokesperson said in early June. “Forced labor of any kind is abhorrent, and we believe all people should be treated with dignity and not be exploited.” The spokesperson said the investigation was ongoing as of mid-August. Authentic Brands Group, which owns the IZOD brand, and BFC said they took forced-labor allegations seriously.that produce garments and travel goods for export, said the ILO, which helps run the monitoring initiative.
“We didn’t want to work but we had to work. When we were in the prison we were equal to zero,” said one former inmate. Cambodia’s Ministry of Interior, the General Department of Prisons, and the official in charge of CC2 at the time, Klot Dara, did not respond to requests for comment. Reuters could not determine who owned the factories or details of their arrangement with the prison.
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