Human Rights Clash with Fashion on Catwalk, Gulnara Show Cancelled

First Published in: Dunia Magazine

It is not very often that human rights clash with fashion on the catwalk, but recent history suggests that when they do come head to head in a democratic and free society, human rights carry the day. We saw it in France in March 2011 when French fashion powerhouse – Christian Dior – fired its artistic designer, John Galliano, one of the best designers in the business, for uttering racist and hateful comments in a Paris pub. The courts took it a notch further by slapping Galliano earlier this month with a 6000 euro ($8,421) suspended fine for his derogatory comments.

The recent cancellation of a New York Fashion Week show this September, due to pressure from rights groups adds weight to the assertion that abuse – in any form whatsoever – is never fashionable.

On 9 September 2011, IMG Worldwide Inc (IMG), the organizer of New York Fashion Week, announced the cancellation of the show of Gulnara Karimova, daughter of the President of Uzbekistan*. She doubles as Uzbekistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations and Ambassador to Spain. Her show was called off due to her country’s “atrocious human rights record” and her links to the repressive regime that denies its people, including children, basic rights and freedoms.

Gulnara Karimova, 39, was scheduled to showcase the 2012 Spring Collection of her clothing line – “Guli” – at the Lincoln Center during Fashion Week on 15 September 2011 but the show was nicked thanks to rigorous campaigning by Human Rights Watch and other rights groups and individuals of good will in New York.

Some of the rights violations linked to President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan and his daughter Gulnara include forced child labour in cotton farms, widespread and systematic torture and brutal repression of political dissent. The government of Uzbekistan also stifles free association, free assembly and free speech by throwing journalists and human rights activists behind bars. This government to which Gulnara is associated has forced several non-governmental institutions like Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and others in the country to shutdown.

Human Rights Watch reports that in order to stop Gulnara Karimova from showcasing her clothing line, the organization reached out to IMG and Fashion Week’s official sponsor, Mercedes-Benz. The Executive Director of Human Rights Watch spoke with the management of IMG about the need for the prestigious Fashion Week to distance itself from abusers and their cronies.

In Uzbekistan, about 2 million children, according to Human Rights Watch, are required by the government to drop out of school each year and work for two months “in difficult and dangerous conditions” picking cotton – some of which is used in Gulnara’s Collections.Perpetrators of rights violations, those associated with abuse or and those who benefit from abuse must be challenged on all fronts – even if it means taking the fight to the catwalk. The cancellation of Gulnara’s show is a move in the right direction and a testament to the conviction that when human rights clash with fashion on the catwalk in a free society, rights should prevail.

It is now up to Gulnara Karimova to use her positions of influence as eldest daughter of a dictator, Uzbekistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Ambassador to Spain, to restore the dignity of child labourers and all individuals with limited rights in Uzbekistan — or at least, distance herself from the repressive Uzbek regime.

If she decides to stay on the wrong side of history, she should keep in mind that, in the words of Steve Swerdlow, Human Rights Watch’s Uzbekistan researcher, “enslaving children and torturing dissidents is never chic.”

*The Republic of Uzbekistan is located in Central Asia. It was part of the Soviet Union.
*Photo of Gulnara, Cannes Film Festival 2010: Style Guru.

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Cameroon: Child labour video series

Child labour is a key concept in international law but unfortunately, it has no clear definition. UNICEF defines it as work that exceeds "a minimum number of hours, depending on the age of a child and on the type of work" [Source]. The International Labour Organization (ILO), on its part, defines child labour as "work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development." [Source]. The organization states that work that does not affect children's health, personal development or interfere with their schooling should not be eliminated. This includes helping parents at home, assisting in the family business or working to earn pocket money.

Lack of clarity in the definition of child labour has given perpetrators of child labour and child exploitation freedom to interpret the concept to their advantage. Abusive parents and guardians argue that working long hours (under pressure and abusive conditions) in the family business is necessary for the child's personal development and helps the child to better appreciate what it means to be hardworking.

Some advocates for child labour have invoked poverty and economic hardship as justification of child labour - arguing that children must work hard in order to support struggling parents in developing countries.

Even more bizarrely, some have argued that "child labour" is a western concept that is not applicable in developing countries.

This mentality, together with the ambiguous definition of "child labour" explains why thousands of children suffer in developing countries. Many perpetrators of child labour and economic exploitation of society's most vulnerable mistakenly think that a viable economy could be built on the backs of children.

On 19 August 2011, I shared an article on Facebook condemning the economic exploitation of children in Bamenda, north west region of Cameroon. The article, which raises genuine concerns about the plight of children as young as 6 years old, was dismissed as "absurd" - an indication that even some educated Cameroonians of the "Facebook generation" still think that there is no problem when parents send out 6-year-olds to the streets to sell groundnut, sweets and biscuits - in the name of supporting the family business.

The following video series explains why child labour in Cameroon should be discouraged in its early stages before victims graduate into more severe and hazardous forms of child labour. It is the story of Etienne Babila, a child labourer rescued by the ILO from a cocoa farm in Cameroon.



PART II:



PART III:



Cameroon is party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Article 32 of the convention state that: "States Parties recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development."

The state has a duty to protect its children.

Photo: Civitas.

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Syria: Stop child abuse and torture by school teachers

A story on France 24 reminded me about the so-called "school corporal punishment" - institutionalized abuse and brutalisation suffered by pupils and school children in the hands of abusive teachers in many parts of the world. The story puts 2 abusive teachers in Syria in the spotlight, and resounds the urgent need to stop child abuse and torture by school teachers in Syria and beyond.

Two female teachers in Syria were caught on video - brutalising pupils entrusted to their care. As you'd expect in this age of information technology, the dramatic video was posted on the  internet and puts the Syria's educational system into question. WATCH...



Incidentally, tomorrow - 5 October - is World's Teacher's Day. Should this calibre of teachers be honored on this symbolic day?

Make no mistake - child abuse and torture by teachers is not only a Syrian problem. The ordeal prevails in many other countries. 

I'm no stranger to school corporal punishment. As a matter of fact, in high school, I was asked to participate in a debate. I vividly remember the debate question: "Should corporal punishment be allowed in boarding schools?" It's worth mentioning that at the time, there were people - students and teachers - who had very strong opinions both for and against corporal punishment.

Widespread occurrence by no means justifies child abuse by school teachers.

The Syrian Arab Republic is party to the Convention of the Rights of the child, which it ratified on 15 July 1993. The State therefore has a legal obligation under international law to protect children from all forms of "physical or mental" violence, including abuse and torture by school teachers. The 2 teachers caught in the above video should, by all means, be identified and brought to justice. Impunity in this widely publicized case would send across a wrong message.

*Photo of school kids in Syria: Gibbz Cadiz.

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