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Article

5 Jun 2017

Author:
Alec Macfarlane and Steven Jiang, CNN

Activist investigating Ivanka Trump shoe supplier is detained in China

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1 Jun 2017

An activist investigating a company that manufactures shoes for Ivanka Trump and other Western brands has been detained by police in China -- and two of his colleagues remain unaccounted for.

The activists were working undercover at two factories in southern China, according to China Labor Watch, the New York-based advocacy group for which they were carrying out the investigation...

The news comes amid a broader crackdown in China on independent groups pushing for better labor rights in the world's second-largest economy.

One of the activists, Hua Haifeng, was detained by local police in Jiangxi province for "illegal surveillance," said Li Qiang, the head of China Labor Watch. The other two activists, Li Zhao and Su Heng, are missing, he said.

The activists took jobs between March and May at two factories run by Chinese shoe manufacturer Huajian Group -- one in Jiangxi and the other in Guangdong -- in order to investigate labor practices at the company, Li said.

Su, who was working at the factory in Jiangxi, found evidence of violations of workers' rights during the production of Ivanka Trump shoes, according to Li. They included employees working for as many as 18 hours a day for pay below the minimum wage, he said.

In a statement, Huajian denied the allegations of excessively long hours and low pay, but said it would look into another accusation by China Labor Watch that the company was illegally hiring students as interns…

A spokeswoman for Marc Fisher Footwear, which licenses the Ivanka Trump brand for shoes, said the firm was unaware of the allegations and would look into them immediately… [also refers to Alain Delon, Kyllie + Kendall, Karl Lagerfeld]

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