Ethiopia has long been considered one of Africa’s economic wunderkinds. Until recently, it had relative political stability in comparison to other countries on the continent. And, with an average GDP growth rate of 10% in the past decade and a government that instituted policies friendly to foreign investors, the country was able to attract South and East Asian clothing manufacturers. These sell to international brands, such as Decathlon and H&M.
But, for the past two months, violent conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region fuelled by ethnic power politics has threatened the country’s stability. According to the International Crisis Group, the violence has likely killed thousands of people, including many civilians, displaced more than a million people internally, and led some 50,000 to flee to Sudan.
January 20, 2021
Ethiopia has long been considered one of Africa’s economic wunderkinds. Until recently, it had relative political stability in comparison to other countries on the continent. And, with an average GDP growth rate of 10% in the past decade and a government that instituted policies friendly to foreign investors, the country was able to attract South and East Asian clothing manufacturers. These sell to international brands, such as Decathlon and H&M.
But, for the past two months, violent conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region fueled by ethnic power politics has threatened the country’s stability. According to the International Crisis Group, the violence has likely killed thousands of people, including many civilians, displaced more than a million people internally, and led some 50,000 to flee to Sudan.
From Bloomberg: Many corporate boards in the U.S. are unprepared to tackle the environmental risks posed by the climate crisis, primarily because few of their members have the background to truly understand what's at stake. Of the 1,188 directors at 100 of the biggest U.S. companies, just 6% had 'relevant credentials' in environmental protection and only 0.3% had expertise in either climate- or water-related issues as recently as 2018, according to a study released by New York University's Stern Center for Sustainable Business.
Ethiopia: Pay Cuts and Forced Overtime - Covid-19 Takes Heavy Toll On Ethiopia s Garment Workers allafrica.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from allafrica.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Pay cuts and forced overtime: COVID-19 takes heavy toll on Ethiopia s garment workers reboot-live Emeline Wuilbercq HAWASSA, Ethiopia (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Even before COVID-19 struck, the women stitching clothes at Ethiopia’s Hawassa industrial park were among the world’s worst-paid garment workers - many making less than $30 per month. Today, pay cuts and forced overtime have become common in short-staffed factories abandoned by hundreds of former employees - some too scared of catching the coronavirus to return, several workers told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Tigist, a 20-year-old seamstress, said some of her colleagues had not come back to Hawassa after they were furloughed in the early months of the pandemic, as the global garment industry was hammered by cancelled orders.