Children's Place Victory! Will Carter's Stop Forced Child Labor in Cotton?

In just under two weeks, hundreds of Change.org readers successfully convinced The Children's Place, the major children's clothing brand, to be more transparent about its policies related to the widespread use of forced child labor in Uzbekistan's cotton industry. Now that The Children's Place has joined other major children's clothing brands like the Gap and Gymboree in taking action to address forced child labor in its cotton supply chain, will Carter's catch up with its competitors?

After the International Labor Rights Forum launched its petition on Change.org, The Children's Place confirmed that it instructs its suppliers not to use Uzbek cotton, joining scores of other companies who have made similar commitments. Jane Singer, Vice President of Investor and Media Relations at The Children's Place commented, "The Children's Place commends the efforts to end forced child labor in Uzbekistan and will continue to do everything we can to support these efforts."

The Children's Place now joins a growing list of the top garment companies in the world in publicly opposing the abusive conditions in Uzbekistan's cotton industry. In this Central Asian nation, one of the largest cotton exporters in the world, the ruling regime institutes a state policy of removing up to two million children from schools across the country during the harvest season to pick cotton. The widespread use of forced child labor in Uzbekistan's cotton fields has garnered international condemnation, but the abuse continues. The more garment brands that publicly call for an end to the exploitation and work to eliminate cotton from Uzbekistan that has been tainted by forced child labor for their supply chains, the stronger the pressure will be on the government to end its brutal labor rights abuses.

While top children's clothing companies like The Children's Place, the Gap and Gymboree have all started to take action to address this problem, Carter's, which also owns OshKosh B'gosh, has remained silent. Your actions make a difference. Change.org petitions in the past have successfully pushed The Children's Place, Gymboree, Abercrombie and Fitch and J. Crew to announce prohibitions on Uzbek cotton. You can take action tell Carter's to ensure that it is not using cotton from Uzbekistan tainted by forced child labor now by signing this Change.org petition.

Photo credit: International Labor Rights Forum (with permission)