2 Activists Vanish After Probing Abuses At Ivanka Trump Shoe Factory In China
Image by Getty Images
One activist has been arrested and two are missing in China after conducting an investigation into a Chinese company making Ivanka Trump-branded shoes, China Labor Watch, a New York-based advocacy group, said.
Labour activist Hua Haifeng was arrested in Jiangxi province on suspicion of illegally using eavesdropping equipment, according to Li Qiang, executive director of the group China Labor Watch.
The three men had been investigating labor conditions at factories that produce shoes for Ivanka Trump, the daughter of U.S. President Donald Trump, and other Western brands, he said in an email.
“We appeal to President Trump, Ivanka Trump herself, and to her related brand company to advocate and press for the release our activists,” China Labor Watch said in the email to Reuters.
Rights group Amnesty International called for the release of the three if they were held only for investigating possible labor abuses at the factories.
“Activists exposing potential human rights abuses deserve protection not persecution,” said William Nee, the group’s China researcher.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $325,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
