"Given the violations of basic human rights and the current political and social turmoil there, production in Burma is inconsistent with our Company's values." --Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc., upon announcing it would no longer sell goods from Burma "It is not possible to do business in [Burma] without directly supporting the military government and its pervasive violations of human rights." --Levi-Strauss & Co. upon withdrawing from Burma

The Children's Place is no place for children. Send an email to The Children's Place and let them know that you will boycott them until they stop selling goods from Burma!

Since June 2000, 30 companies have said NO to "Made in Burma". See the complete list along w/ comments by the companies.

Take your pick from 13 news articles on FBC's boycott campaign, including Washington Post, New York Times, Boston Globe, and Associated Press.

Help FBC find out where "Made in Myanmar" is sold

Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Jesse Helms (R-NC) lead introduction of legislation into the U.S. Senate (see text)

Letter from 28 human and labor rights organizations to apparel companies.

! Go to "Issues" page In Europe, see the Clean Clothes' campaign website.

Burmese garment exports to the United States have recently skyrocketed. Since 1995, apparel imports to the United States from Burma have grown by 800%, shooting up 85% in the first quarter of 2001 alone. Total imports from Burma are nearly $500 million a year! Even though 31 companies, including Wal-Mart, Tommy Hilfiger, Jones New York, and Ames refuse to sell goods from Burma, Some U.S. and Canadian companies, are sourcing, licensing, and/or retailing goods made in Burma.

Based on eyewitness observations, we believe that The Children's Place Retail Stores, Inc. may be selling a greater percentage of goods from Burma than any other company in the United States. We find it extremely cynical that a company like The Children's Place, that sells goods for children, would help to support Burma's military regime, which is notorious for its use of forced and bonded child labor. Until they stop selling goods from Burma, we call for a complete boycott of The Children's Place.

Apparel Trade, Military Regime, and Forced Labor

According to members of the military regime itself, (see how BBC captured this on video) garment/apparel companies are controlled by Burma's brutal military regime, a dictatorship that the U.S. State Department, United Nations (UN), Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International say commits vicious human rights violations, including forced labor on scale perhpas unparalleled in the rest of the world.

Moreover, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce Country Commercial Guide 2002, Burma's military junta charges a tax of 10% on the value of all exports. This means the regime is probably literally making tens of millions of dollars per year from goods shipped to America alone! As if that weren't bad enough, only banks run by the regime have been allowed to handle foreign exchange transactions. There is evidence that these banks use this foreign exchange for the regime's own spending.

The Burmese people themselves want these companies to stop doing business in Burma. 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi has stated repeatedly that international corporations should stay out of Burma for the time being. For this reason, South Africa's 1984 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Archibishop Desmond Tutu, who led the effort to impose sanctions on South Africa in the 1980s, has compared Burma to South Africa's freedom struggle: "...during those hours when hope was fragile, we were strengthened by the support of our brothers and sisters around the world. Sanctions were imposed, governments and citizens worked hard against the regime, and my people are now free. Burma is the next South Africa."

Regime's Abuse of the Burmese People

From 1996-1998, the International Labor Organization, an agency of the United Nations, conducted an exhausitve investigation into forced labor in Burma, where it found "a saga of untold misery and suffering, oppression and exploitation of large sections of the population inhabiting Myanmar [Burma] by the Government, military and other public officers." The U.S. Department of Labor has said that "millions" of Burmese have been pressed into forced labor in Burma.

The U.S. State Department's Burma Country Report on Human Rights 2001, released on March 4, 2002, says: "Forced labor, including forced child labor, has contributed materially to the construction of industrial parks subsequently used largely to produce manufactured exports, including garments."

Put simply, it is impossible to do business in Burma without supporting the regime and its brutal violations of human rights.

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