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Summary: More than 60 of the world’s top clothing labels, including Burberry and Levi, are to boycott cotton from Uzbekistan over claims the government forces children to harvest the crop.
[18 September 2011] - Swedish high street retailer H&M, and sportswear companies Adidas and Puma were among the brands who pledged not to buy cotton from the former Soviet Central Asian country that they know has been collected by children. The groups have signed a pledge under the Responsible Sourcing Network, a project organised by the US-based advocacy group As You Sow which is organising the boycott. “We are a major cotton consumer and like many companies, we take a clear stand against child labour, regardless of country,” said Henrik Lampa, corporate social responsibility manager at H&M. US retail industry group American Apparel and Footwear Association, which represents more than 800 companies, had previously signed up for the pledge but Andrew Behar, Chief Executive of As You Sow, said the new individual pledges had extra significance. “It’s about integrity and transparency,” he said. “It’s different when you sign up individually and put your logo on it.” The Uzbek foreign ministry did not comment. The move is the second victory this month for human rights groups over the Uzbek regime, a government they revile. On September 9 organisers of the New York Fashion Week, under pressure from the media and rights groups, cancelled a show by the eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov. Rights activists accuse the 73-year-old Mr Karimov, who has ruled Uzbekistan since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, of trampling on democracy, torture and murder. Mr Karimov and the Uzbek government have always denied accusations of human rights abuses and child labour. Situated in the heart of Central Asia and with a population of 27.5 million people, Uzbekistan should be the economic hub of the region but the authorities have increasingly cut it off from the world. Alongside gas and gold, cotton is one of the country’s most valuable exports for the country’s elite. Activists and campaign groups have documented how thousands of school children in Uzbekistan are forced each harvest season to leave their classrooms and head for the fields for days of backbreaking cotton picking. Uzbek university students have previously said they cannot pass their degrees unless they have picked their quota of cotton. Tim Newman, campaigns director at New York-based lobby group International Labor Rights Forum, said he has already seen reports that children as young as 13 were being mobilised to pick this year’s crop. “There are estimates that it affects up to two million children during the harvest season,” he said. “Children will be told that they have a quota to meet and they will pick all day.” Uzbekistan is unique, rights groups said, because while child labour is a problem in agriculture in many developing countries, in Uzbekistan it is organised and sponsored by the state. It is systematic. Mr Newman said the pledge not to buy cotton from Uzbekistan and the cancellation of the show at New York Fashion Week by Gulnara Karimova, the Uzbek president’s eldest daughter, reflected a growing concern in the fashion industry about where its products are sourced. An an attempt to defy the organisers of New York Fashion Week and rights groups, Ms Karimova, also Uzbekistan’s ambassador to Spain, hosted a private fashion show by her clothing label Guli at an upmarket New York restaurant on Thursday. She did not attend. Further Information:
Owner: James Kilnerpdf: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/uzbekistan/8771473/Global...