Complaints have been filed against two British cotton traders for contributing to forced child labour in Uzbekistan. British cotton dealers Cargill Cotton Ltd and ICT Cotton Ltd have been accused by the German-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) of breaking OECD guidelines for multinational corporations by purchasing Uzbek cotton harvested through forced child labour. Anti-Slavery International has secured media coverage in around 230 UK local news sites as well as in a number of national papers including The Guardian and The Daily Mirror.
The OECD complaints call upon the UK Government to investigate, through its OECD National Contact Point, whether the cotton dealers “have contributed substantially to maintaining the use of child and forced labour in the Uzbek cotton production”. An upheld complaint would result in considerable UK Government pressure against both British cotton trading companies to end business dealings with Uzbekistan. The OECD complaints filed in the UK are part of a pan-European campaign targeting seven cotton traders. Similar complaints were submitted simultaneously in October in Germany, France, and Switzerland.
The OECD complaints call upon the UK Government to investigate, through its OECD National Contact Point, whether the cotton dealers “have contributed substantially to maintaining the use of child and forced labour in the Uzbek cotton production”. An upheld complaint would result in considerable UK Government pressure against both British cotton trading companies to end business dealings with Uzbekistan. The OECD complaints filed in the UK are part of a pan-European campaign targeting seven cotton traders. Similar complaints were submitted simultaneously in October in Germany, France, and Switzerland.
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