Carter's Victory! Will Aeropostale, Forever 21, Urban Outfitters and Toys R Us Stop Forced Child Lab

Change.org readers did it again! Close to 1,000 Change.org readers contacted children's clothing brand Carter's asking the company to stop the use of cotton from Uzbekistan made by forced child labor in its products. Yesterday, Carter's issued a statement about its efforts to prohibit Uzbek cotton and "to go more deeply into our supply chain to better ensure compliance." Now that we have worked together to push Abercrombie & Fitch, Gymboree, the Children's Place and Carter's to take action to address forced child labor in cotton, it's time to focus on a handful of new companies that have been silent on this abuse: Toys "R" Us, Aeropostale, Forever 21 and Urban Outfitters.

Your efforts efforts are making a big difference in building the economic pressure on the Government of Uzbekistan to end its state policy of removing millions of children from school and forcing them to pick cotton during the harvest season. Carter's statement yesterday said that it "will continue to prohibit the use of Uzbek cotton in our supply chain until the government of Uzbekistan ends the practice of forced child labor and allows the independent verification by the International Labor Organization." That is a critical commitment for companies to make as Uzbekistan has consistently refused to allow independent observers from the ILO in to the country to document labor conditions on cotton farms despite the widespread and well-documented government policy of forced child labor which violates the government's commitments under international labor rights protocols.

The sad reality is that the "authoritarian state" in Uzbekistan will not stop its egregious labor and human rights abuses until it hits their pocketbook. By increasing the number of major clothing brands that are actively working to eliminate Uzbek cotton from their supply chains, the regime of President Karimov in Uzbekistan will feel pressure to clean up its act. Well over 70 of the biggest garment corporations in the world are taking action to address this abuses, but a few are lagging behind.

With most of the top children's clothing companies, including Carter's, the Children's Place, Gymboree and the Gap, are committing to end forced child labor in their cotton, Toys "R" Us is increasingly standing alone in its silence on the potential abuse of children in its cotton sourcing. Brands popular among teens and hipsters like Aeropostale, Forever 21 and Urban Outfitters are also coolly aloof when it comes to the potential use of forced child labor in their trendy outfits. But they are clearly late to this trend as many of their competitors have been on board efforts to stop the abuse in Uzbekistan's cotton fields for years.

As Change.org readers have done before, it's time to tell these major clothing companies to take action now to stop forced child labor in their cotton. Join us in asking Toys "R" Us, Aeropostale, Forever 21 and Urban Outfitters to prohibit the use of Uzbek cotton in their supply chains until the government ends this abuse.

Photo credit: International Labor Rights Forum (with permission)