Boycott “blood cashews” from Vietnam
Press Release
Contact: bpsos@bpsos.org
June 13, 2012
Coalition to Abolish Modern-day Slavery in Asia (CAMSA) calls on consumers around the globe to boycott cashews exported by Vietnam because they are a product of modern-day slavery.
Human Rights Watch, in its publication titled “The Rehab Archipelago,” reports that forced labor has been used in drug rehabilitation centers across Vietnam, where inmates have to husk and peel cashews, working six to seven hours a day for $3 a month. According to the report, between 2000 and 2010, over 309,000 people passed through 56 drug detention centers inVietnam. Cashew export brings in 1.5 billion US dollars a year for Vietnam.
At a recent hearing before the US Congress, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thang, Executive Director of Boat People SOS (BPSOS), reported that Vietnamese prisoners, including political prisoners, have similarly been subjected to forced labor: “One Montagnard, jailed from 2002 through 2009, had to do this for 7 years. His hands were injured by the caustic resin from the cashew nuts because he was not allowed to wear gloves.”
Speaking for CAMSA, Mr. Vu Quoc Dung, Secretary General of Germany-based International Society for Human Rights, denounces the dangerous cashew work in prisons such as the Z30A Prison in Xuan Loc, where political prisoners are forced each to process 32 kg of class B cashews daily. Some prisoners have developed blindness as a result. Many have suffered injuries to their faces and hands. Those failing to meet the assigned quota would be beaten with a whip and kicked. Political prisoners who oppose forced labor have reportedly been shackled and held in solitary confinement.
CAMSA urges concerned citizens of the world to join the campaign by boycotting cashews produced through forced labor. CAMSA will set up at http://camsa-coalition.org a list of stores that reportedly sell cashews from Vietnam.
CAMSA also calls on governments and UN agencies to exert pressure on Vietnam to end the practice of forced labor and to allow international delegations to inspect all centers and prisons.
The ultimate goal of this boycott campaign against the “blood cashews” from Vietnam is to free all Vietnamese detainees and prisoners, including political prisoners, from modern-day slavery.
Read full HRW report: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/vietnam0911ToPost.pdf
Read full testimony of Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thang: http://www.machsongmedia.com/images/files/statement_of_ndt.pdf
Founded in 2008, CAMSA is a coalition of international organizations and national organizations operating inAsia. CAMSA has rescued and assisted over four thousand victims of labor and sex trafficking.
Founding members of CAMSA:
Boat People SOS (Falls Church, Virginia, USA)
International Society for Human Rights (Frankfurt, Germany)
Vietnamese Canadian Federation (Ottawa, Canada)
Organizations joining the campaign as of June 13, 2012:
Association of Former Vietnamese Political Prisoners in New Jersey (Pennsauken, New Jersey)
Committee for Religious Freedom in Vietnam (Bethesda, Maryland)
Lac Hong Magazine (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Lawyers Against Human Trafficking (Houston, Texas)
Montagnard Human Rights Organization (Raleigh, North Carolina)
Nguoi Viet Tay Bac Newspaper (Seattle, Washington)
Saigon Houston Radio (Houston, Texas)
Union of North American Vietnamese Student Associations (UNAVSA)
Vietnamese Overseas Magazine (Pennsauken, New Jersey)
Vietnamese Overseas Radio Program in New Jersey (Pennsauken, New Jersey)
