Consumers should become aware of what goes on behind the manufacture of clothes was the theme developed at a seminar held at St James Cavalier yesterday.

Who are the anonymous faces behind the production of the clothes? Are they working under slave labour conditions and need to be given their due rights?

This was discussed during an interactive seminar organised by the Forum for Justice and Cooperation.

The seminar with the theme “Cotton: Caught in a dirty business” focused on the cultivation of cotton and the manufacture of textiles and clothes in the south of the world.

Swedish Clean Clothes campaigner and Red Cross activist Nina Zita explained that in many communities, unsustainable practices in the production of cotton have a strong negative impact on people’s lives and on the natural environment.

She spoke about the importance and need to establish fair and sustainable practices that would benefit both workers and their communities and the environment.

During her presentation, Ms Zita showed a short documentary, Courageous Hearts without Retreat, which she co-produced, that included interviews with garment workers in Cambodia and representatives of the largest clothes stores in Sweden.

The film also showed interviews with Cambodian garment workers who visited the shops in Sweden that sold the clothing they produced.

During the interviews, representatives of H&M and Linke clothes shops explained that the garments are made in countries that offer the best quality, low prices and best production time.

However, one of the Cambodian workers was upset when she saw the price tags in Sweden on the items manufactured in her country.

Ms Zita explained that the workers are paid $45 dollars a month. However, once all the household and transport expenses are paid, they are only left with just under 50c till the end of the month.

“Many women end up working overtime and on Sundays to make extra money but it is never enough. They never have to time to see their children,” she said.

It was pointed out in the film that many of the factory workers are young uneducated women who eat as little as possible to save money.

“Many of the workers faint and pass out from exhaustion and hunger because they want to save money for their families,” Ms Zita said.

During the interview, it was suggested to one of the clothing representatives to raise the salary of a garments worker to $80 a month. However, she immediately replied that Cambodia would lose its advantage over other countries because labour will be too expensive.

The clothing industry exports account for 57 per cent of total exports and many countries including China, Bangladesh, Turkey, India, Bulgaria, Romania and Indonesia ignore their clothing factory workers’ elementary rights.

Environmental Education lecturer Vince Caruana said that many people do not know the history of their clothing and spoke about the people who are behind the product. He discussed the effects of globalisation and whether trade is helping the textile industry or making their life worse.

The cotton industry is one of the best examples to understand how the global market really works and the principles behind it, said Mr Caruana.

The event was organised to provide information about the imbalances due to the lack of rules and principles of equity in international markets, factories and plantations.

The Forum for Justice and Cooperation is a network of four Maltese NGOs: Inizjamed, Kooperativa Kummerc ?ust, Kopin and the Third World Group.

The event was funded by the Playing Fair Alternative EU development education project, supported by Forum Malta fl-Ewropa and held in collaboration with the Global Actions Schools project.