Crime
Media Exposé names Hyundai & Kia as ‘Exploiters of Children’ to build Automobiles
By Dana Malcolm
Staff Writers
#USA, February 11, 2023 – One of the US’s largest car manufacturers is being accused of exploitation after coming up on the wrong end of labour laws. A factory for Hyundai, a South Korean Brand which manufactures its cars in the US was revealed to be exploiting children as young as 12 years old according to a 2022 Reuters investigation.
Now the developer is in meetings to attempt to straighten up its act.
The meetings come after the news agency revealed last year that several children, many of them undocumented
migrants, had been funneled into one particular factory in Alabama and were assembling car parts when they were supposed to be in school. With more digging, more factories were implicated in the illegal and exploitative practice prompting a federal investigation.
The report caused investigations not just into the Korean carmaker, but related brand Kia, which was also implicated. The United Auto Workers, a labour union representing the US and Canada condemned the actions.
“The UAW is saddened and disgusted to read new reports of child labour at Hyundai and Kia suppliers in Alabama. This is further evidence of a deeply broken system at Hyundai and Kia,” it said.
The union revealed Hyundai was also facing accusations of mistreating its adult immigrant workers by forcing professionals into low-paying jobs as well as racial and gender based discrimination. It is dangerous to work in these factories, even without the inevitable clumsiness of a child, they come with risks including amputation and worse.
Kia and Hyundai both prohibit child labour on paper with charters that specify age limits on their workers but they are being accused of not doing enough to enforce those laws.
Garfield Ekon
Staff Writer
USA, September 21, 2024 – Hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has been charged with serious sex offenses from a 14-page indictment, accusing him of racketeering, sex trafficking by force and transportation to engage in prostitution.
Mr. Combs, 54, was arrested on Monday evening, with allegations of running a criminal enterprise from at least 2008 that relied on drugs and violence to force women to “fulfill his sexual desires”, according to prosecutors. A New York federal judge remanded the musician in custody on Tuesday after prosecutors argued he was a “serious flight risk”.
If convicted on all three counts, the rapper and record producer faces a sentence of 15 years up to life in prison. Asked by US Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky how he wished to plead, Mr. Combs stood up and said: “not guilty”.
According to court documents, Mr. Combs “wielded the power” of his status to “lure female victims, to engage in extended sex acts” called “Freak Offs”. During Freak Offs, Combs distributed a variety of controlled substances to victims, in part to keep the victims “obedient and compliant,” the indictment said.
In a news briefing, US prosecutor Damian Williams said officials found firearms, ammunition and more than 1,000 bottles of lubricant during raids on Mr. Combs’ homes in Miami and Los Angeles, about six months ago. Mr. Williams said federal agents also found three semi-automatic rifles with defaced serial numbers, and a drum magazine.
He told reporters that further charges were possible, without offering details.
Mr. Agnifilo, the musician’s lawyer, maintained, “there’s no coercion and no crime.”
“He’s not afraid of the charges,” he said, adding that he believed Mr. Combs was the target of “an unjust prosecution”.
In court documents, federal prosecutors said that Mr. Combs had “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct”.
Prosecutors accuse Mr. Combs of “creating a criminal enterprise” whose members – under his direction – engaged in sex trafficking, forced labour, kidnapping, arson and bribery.
“On numerous occasions”, the documents said, Mr. Combs assaulted women by “striking, punching, dragging, throwing objects at, and kicking them”.
The indictment did not specify how many women were alleged victims.
It also does not accuse Mr. Combs himself of engaging directly in unwanted sexual acts with women.
Last November, his ex-girlfriend, singer Casandra Elizabeth Ventura, filed a civil lawsuit against him that included graphic descriptions of violent abuse.
Sean “Diddy” Combs denied the accusations, but settled the case a day after it was filed.
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