Exploitation Made in Europe Human Rights Abuses in Facilities Producing for German Fashion Brands in: Ukraine | Serbia | Croatia | Bulgaria TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary __ p. 3-5 Introduction __ p. 6-9 Serbia: Abuses at a Factory Producing for German Retail Chains __ p. 10-11 Ukraine: Esprit and Gerry Weber Profit from Extensive Labour and Human Rights Violations __ p. 12-18 Croatia: Numerous Irregularities at a Hugo Boss Supplier __ p. 19-23 Bulgaria: Worker and Trade Union Repression at a Hugo Boss Supplier __ p. 24-26 Recommendations __ p.27 AUTHORS Bettina Musiolek, Bojana Tamindžija and Stefan Aleksić, Anna Oksiutovych and Oksana Dutchak, Georgi Medarov, Ana Vragolović – all Clean Clothes Campaign CONTACT
[email protected] EDITOR Maren Leifker, Brot für die Welt PHOTOS Yevgenia Belorusets – the people shown in the images are not those interviewed for this report. LAYOUT AND INFOGRAPHICS Sandra Spindler PROOFREADING Nivene Raafat APRIL 2020 As part of the Initiative Lieferkettengesetz 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Germany is one of the world’s largest importers and exporters suppliers of German brands and retailers in Ukraine, Serbia, of garments. Additionally, German fashion brands and retail- Croatia and Bulgaria were interviewed. ers are the primary buyers of fashion items from Ukraine and Bulgaria, as well as the second most important buyers from In all four countries investigated, an estimated 120,000 Croatia and Serbia. For this study, workers from different workers are sewing for German brands. WHICH HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES DID WORKERS REPORT? WHAT DOES ‘MADE IN EUROPE’ MEAN? 1| Across the board, the main human rights abuse is the non-payment of a living wage.