Made in Ethiopia (Swiss Press Video 2020, by Isabelle Ducret) - Swiss Press Award
RTS
Isabelle Ducret
From T-shirts for under ten francs to jeans for twenty francs from H&M, Levi’s and Calvin Klein – Ethiopia has become the textile manufacturers’ paradise. But what are the manufacturing conditions like? Isabelle Ducret, who asked herself this question for the RTS program Temps Présent, met young workers at the Hawassa industrial park, who work hard 10-hour days and longer, for a daily wage of CHF 1 or CHF 23 a month. Despite the ethical charter signed by the big brands, the majority of the 25 000 employees in this industry live below
the breadline in one of Africa’s poorest countries – most of them are women. Of course, the African continent has a right to its industrial revolution, but the local government is too weak to force the, mostly Asian, textile companies to raise wages and improve the living conditions of their employees. H&M and the large distribution companies have not responded to requests for a statement on this issue.
Interview with Isabelle Ducret
