Catherwood LibraryILR School

A landmark settlement was reached yesterday in a human rights case involving indentured servitude and other violations committed on the island of Saipan by garment factories manufacturing clothing for major U.S. retailers (see WIT for Oct. 18, 2001). Involving twenty-six companies and $20 million for back pay and funding of a monitoring program, the settlement may be the largest ever in a U.S. lawsuit over violations of international human rights. Having decided to settle the case only after suffering several major legal defeats in the case in the past year (see WIT for May 15, 2002), the companies involved still deny that they are guilty of any crime and many have attempted to publicize the settlement as altruistic action willingly taken in the best interest of workers on the island.