Jordan has a thriving garment trade which takes place largely in Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZ). Products from these special economic zones, which were established in 1997, can be exported to the US duty-free as long as they contain a certain percentage of inputs from Israel. QIZ’s were initially created with a view to providing jobs for Jordanians, but today around 70% of employees in the garments factories in these zones are South Asian women.
WTF? Cooperation with Israel?
And note all those workers are now imported. What does this say about Arabs willing to work? Are Palestinians refusing to work or are they being exploited so refuse to work, or is it that the companies prefer to hire hard working women from south Asia?
This hints at a possible reason:
Labour standards at these zones have been called into question by both local and international human rights groups in recent years. Last year, 100 Nepali women requested repatriation after facing abusive and exploitative conditions at the Dulay Industrial Park, located in one of the country’s QIZ’s.
Yes, Nepal exports a lot of workers...which says a lot about the American green types who see Nepal as Shangri La (or Tibet, which China is trying to bring into the 20th century).
partly related item:
All those Sherpas killed taking up supplies and setting lines on Mt Everest were hired by a bigshot American network for a TV special...one wonders if they were pushed into doing these things in dangerous areas to fit the TV schedule, where schedule was more important than safety....
Tashi told his visiting relatives that the Sherpa guides woke up early and were on their way to fix ropes to the higher camps but were delayed because of the unsteady path. Suddenly the avalanche fell on the group and buried many of them, according to Tashi's sister-in-law Dawa Yanju.
And, of course, poverty is the reason so many locals work as guides.
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