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Migrant workers in Malaysia in the supply chain of goods for global electronics brands Samsung and Panasonic claim they are being duped, underpaid and exploited. The two companies have launched investigations into the allegations, uncovered as part of a Guardian series on claims over conditions in Malaysia. In a separate report, workers at McDonald’s say they were victims of labour exploitation. The workers allege they were subjected to months – and in some cases years – of exploitation by a labour supply company contracted by McDonald’s to provide workers to its restaurants in Kuala Lumpur. McDonald’s says it has now ended its contract with the company.

Friday marked the start of the UN’s 16 days of activism against gender-based violence – the campaign ends on Human Rights Day, 10 December. Photographer Bhargavi Joshi’s powerful series of images represent the violence and injustices that confront women worldwide, and how that abuse is whitewashed. And on International Women Human Rights Defenders’ Day on Tuesday, four campaigners from Honduras, Nepal, China and Egypt tell us their stories of persecution. Will you be taking part in the 16-day campaign? Tell us about it – we’d like you to share your stories.

Elsewhere on the site

Southern Africa cries for help as El Niño and climate change savage maize harvest

UK government faces calls to shelter Yazidi refugees persecuted by Isis

Madagascar drought: 330,000 people ‘one step from famine’, UN warns

India accused of muzzling NGOs by blocking foreign funding

West Africa to target human and animal health together to fight Ebola and Zika

UK government led public to believe aid to India had ended, watchdog says

Morocco lights the way for Africa on renewable energy

One in five people in cities worldwide live in areas with no safe toilet

UK accused of lack of transparency over rise in aid funding to private sector

In depth

‘I was so scared … I was tortured’: Indian women lift the lid on married life

‘We are in shock’: historic Bolivia drought hammers homes and crops

Free speech becomes a talking point in Sierra Leone as WhatsApp storm rages

‘Ours are the hands and faces of slavery’: the exploitation of migrants in Sicily

‘It’s a crime to be young and pretty’: girls flee predatory Central America gangs

Clouds of filth envelop Asian cities: ‘you can’t escape’

Amid devastation of Hurricane Matthew, Haitians urged to go to the polls

Opinion

Mukhisa Kituyi: Don’t let shifts in trading policies throw poor countries off balance

Ruth Bergan and Natalie Sharples: How UK trade policies could help heal global healthcare inequalities

Tanya Cox, Jussi Kanner and Evert-Jan Brouwer: Dear European leaders, your new plan for ending inequality will not work

Multimedia

How Cuba came of age on early childhood development – podcast

Western Sahara: the last colony in Africa – video

What you said

On the opinion piece by Mukhisa Kituyi, okidog said:

Developing countries need economic development in order to be able to trade and tackle unemployment and inequality. Otherwise ‘openness to trade’ just means importing everything from China and other Asian exporters (heavily protected during critical periods of their development).

Highlight from the blogosphere

For Humanosphere, Joanne Lu reports on improving data to tackle violence against women in the Asia-Pacific region.

And finally …

Poverty matters will return in two weeks with another roundup of the latest news and comment. In the meantime, keep up to date on the Global development website. On Twitter, follow @gdndevelopment and the team – @LizFordGuardian, @BenQuinn75 and @karenmcveigh1 – and join Global development on Facebook.