Europe Urges Uzbek Cotton Boycott to Stop Forced Child Labor

While many garment brands have spoken out against forced child labor in Uzbekistan's cotton fields, the government of Uzbekistan continues to sell its tainted cotton internationally. But several European human rights organizations recently filed a complaint against some of the biggest global cotton traders with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that urges these companies to boycott Uzbek cotton. Will their efforts manage to keep Uzbek cotton picked with forced child labor out of Europe?

The OECD has 33 member countries, including the United States, who have agreed to a set of principles called the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. The agreement provides voluntary standards for business conduct in a range of areas, including labor rights. The most basic violations of labor rights are clearly present and widespread in Uzbekistan's cotton industry, violating the OECD's guidelines.

For example, an article in the German publication Der Spiegel about the OECD complaint explains that about two million schoolchildren as young as eleven continue to be removed from schools across Uzbekistan and forced to meet daily cotton production quotas by local authorities. Those children who do not meet quotas are punished and even beaten, while parents who refuse to let their children participate in the harvest can be put under state surveillance. Cotton farmers are forced to grow cotton and are caught in an ongoing cycle of poverty. Uzbek farmers may officially be free operators, but they lease their land, buy their fertilizer, and are required to meet quotas, all from the government. The government also buys their cotton at one third of the export price.

The conditions in Uzbekistan's cotton industry clearly violate the OECD Guidelines, as well as a range of other international standards. That is why the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights partnered with the Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights of Germany, Guido Ehrler of Switzerland and Sherpa of France to file a complaint against seven major cotton traders from Europe who continue to export Uzbek cotton. The companies targeted in the complaint include Paul Reinhart AG (Switzerland), ECOM Agroindustrial Corp Ltd. (Switzerland), Devot S.A. (France), Otto Stadtlander GmbH (Germany) and three unnamed U.K.-based companies. The complaint is an attempt by European human rights groups to utilize "soft law", or voluntary standards, as an avenue for holding corporations accountable for international human rights abuses.

The OECD complaint also highlights that companies from several different countries at various stages of the cotton supply chain all have a responsibility to ensure that they are not enabling forced child labor. Many garment brands we recognize as U.S. consumers have started to take action opposing forced child labor in Uzbek cotton. While Change.org readers' actions have helped spur companies like Abercrombie & Fitch and J. Crew to address this continued exploitation, the children's clothing store Gymboree still remains silent about forced child labor. You can take action now by sending this message to Gymboree and encouraging your friends to join you. Then you can find out how to give Gymboree a call and use Facebook and Twitter to take action here.

Photo credit: Uzbek German Forum for Human Rights (with permission)