Kenya: In a situation like this, who cares about human rights?

A World Bank loan of 30 million dollars established Kenya's first EPZ in 1990. There are now five around the country containing about 40 firms - with plans to build two more in the near future. The zones are intended to increase foreign currency earnings for the impoverished nation of almost 34 million people through exports to the United States and Europe. Almost 40,000 Kenyans, mostly women, are employed in the EPZs (up from some 26,000 in 2002), no small matter in a country where official statistics put unemployment at almost 15 percent. This success has been undermined, however, by persistent allegations of poor working conditions and human rights abuses in the zones.