Fashion Takes A Stand

Following mounting pressure from human rights campaigners and protestors, IMG, the organisers of New York Fashion Week, cancelled Gulnara Karimova’s fashion show (http://nyp.st/qnfDQo).

Despite this, Karimova refused to be discouraged and instead put on a private show at Cipriani, a prestigious restaurant in Manhattan. This did not help her avoid further demonstrations however, as the International Labour Rights Forum (ILRF) organised a rally and protestors gathered outside the lavish restaurant chanting and holding placards that read "I always dream about going to the park with my mum and dad, but I've got to pick cotton for Gulnara Karimova's fashion week" (http://bit.ly/nyvAZw).

On both sides of the Atlantic there has been considerable media coverage on the recent events and pressure is now growing on the Uzbek government to end the use of child labour in its cotton industry. H&M, Adidas, Puma, Burberry & Levi are just of some of the 60+ global clothing brands that have pledged to 'not knowingly source' cotton from Uzbekistan (http://tgr.ph/n2Zbue).

Adidas said that "By signing this pledge we are showing our unwavering commitment to the cause," and H&M have said that they "will maintain this pledge until the elimination of this practice is independently verified by the International Labour Organization (ILO)."

 

Ultimately we hope that Gulnara's attempt to launch her own fashion line will have inadvertently thrown Uzbekistan's cotton crimes into the spotlight. 

To see photos of the rally http://bit.ly/qFWqgt or bit.ly/qF3hM7.

Slavery in Uzbekistan is front page of the New York Times

Read the full article from the NY post below:


Daughter of murderous dictator to unveil spring line at Fashion Week

The pampered daughter of the murderous dictator of Uzbekistan -- a reviled tyrant who once boiled a political foe alive and has killed, tortured and enslaved thousands of his countrymen -- will unveil her new line of spring creations during Fashion Week at Lincoln Center.

And human-rights advocates say Gulnara “GooGoosha” Karimova -- a high ranking official in her father’s government once bluntly described by US diplomats as “the single most-hated person in the country” -- should not be given the privilege of a prestigious Sept. 15 runway show given her complicity in her father Islam Karimov’s reign of terror.

“There’s nothing fashionable about lending a high-profile platform to the senior official of one of the world’s most repressive governments,” fumed Steve Swerdlow, Uzbekistan researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The jet-setting Karimova, 39, has tried mightily to project a glamorous image: making a video with Julio Iglesias and booking Sting for a fashion festival in Tashkent in 2009 -- a gig for which he was roundly criticized.

She also launched her colorful “Guli” fashion line, which is heavily influenced by Middle Eastern and Asian cultures.

It features embroidered trims and traditional flowing Uzbek blends of cotton and silk.

But US diplomats in Uzbekistan said, “Most Uzbeks see Karimova as a greedy, power-hungry individual who uses her father to crush business people or anyone else who stands in her way,” according to documents released by WikiLeaks.

The firestorm is an embarrassment for IMG, which produces Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

“We’re horrified by the human-rights abuses in Uzbekistan, and hope that the attention Human Rights Watch generates is able to effect change in the country. We also hope to work hand-in-hand with Human Rights Watch during Fashion Week and beyond to challenge those in power in Uzbekistan to take action immediately,” an IMG spokesman said.

Nevertheless, IMG said it had no plans to cancel the runway show.

Representatives for Karimova said the fascista fashionista was out of the country and unavailable for comment.

“Ms. Karimova should not be ... benefitting from the international limelight while the Uzbek government continues to engage in ... torture and forced child labor,” Swerdlow added.

Karimova has also been linked to the Russian mob. And critics charge that she and her family have raked in millions from the regime’s forced labor policies in which schoolchildren are ordered to leave classes to pick cotton.

The International Labor Rights Forum is planning a mock fashion show outside Lincoln Center to protest Karimova’s Sept. 15 show.

“Models will include local college students who will be wearing T-shirts and costumes illustrating the link between the fashion industry and forced child labor in Uzbekistan’s cotton industry,” said the forum’s Tim Newman.

And retailers such as Macy’s, The Gap, Walmart and H&M have already stopped buying Uzbek cotton.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/fashion_weak_on_torture_8KYhMldKuolwEloVgZtZVO

Uzbekistan: British Embassy Staffer Fined by Court for Contact with Activists

A press secretary for the British Embassy in Uzbekistan has been fined $1,600 for meeting with Uzbek human rights advocates, fergananews.com, an independent Central Asian website reported last week.


Leonid Kudryavtsev was charged under the Uzbek administrative code for "violation of procedure for organizations, conducting meetings, rallies, streets actions or demonstrations," punishable by fines or up to 15 days of arrest.

Kudryavtsev said that he learned of the case against him on June 9 when he was summoned for interrogation. The police used a supposed letter from irate citizens as a pretext for the summons. The accusatory letter goes into detail with sarcasm-laden claims about Elena Urlayeva, a prominent Tashkent-based human rights advocate who is often in the news for monitoring child labor in the cotton industry. She is claimed to be involved in "hooligan activity" and "assemblages disguised as trainings" at the Embassy with Kudryavtsev.

Kudryavtsev told fergananews.com that the Embassy does in fact meet with Tashkent human rights advocates and has held two such meetings in the past year which were strictly educational in nature, fergananews.com reported:

We explain to local human rights defenders the basics about many local laws and international covenants ratified by Uzbekistan. These are activities of the Embassy... so it is surprising that I am on trial.

Why is the Uzbek regime going after a vulnerable member of the British staff who can't claim diplomatic immunity, because he is an Uzbek citizen? The authorities are always trying to block access to the foreign diplomatic community by the local independent human rights groups and this is one way they "send a message."

This article is abridged from the original first published on Eurasianet.org

Will Brussels Give Tashkent a Pass on Wide-Scale Forced Labour?

On Tuesday, Anti-Slavery's Supply Chain Programme Co-ordinator, Joanna Ewart-James, called on the European Parlimanent's International Trade Committee to "grasp this opportunity to influence the Government of Uzbekistan to end this abhorrent and illegal practice" presented by an amendment to the trade agreement between the EU and Uzbekistan, which the Parliament is considering approving.

Catherine Bearder MEP who sits on the International Trade Committee, described the use of state-sponsored forced child labour to pick cotton in Uzbekistan as “penal servitude on a massive scale.”

“To pass [this amendment] would clearly send the wrong message about what the EU stands for, the rights of people that we trade with,” Bearder continued. “By reserving our decision on this agreement we send a clear message that we are watching.”

Uzbekistan’s ambassador to the EU, Bakhtiyar Gulyamov, was invited to the International Trade Committee hearing, but did not attend. The European Parliament is due to vote on the amendment later this year.

More details of the event can be read on Eurasianet.org

US Children's Clothing Company Gymboree Bans Use of Uzbek Cotton

US children's clothing manufacturer Gymboree is the latest company to take a stand against child labour by refusing to buy cotton from Uzbekistan. Their web announcement of the policy change comes after over 3,000 Change.org members sent in letters asking for the company to stop buying Uzbek cotton.
 
Over 70 of the world's largest apparel brands and retailers have developed policies on the use of Uzbek cotton in their products or refusing to buy products made with Uzbek cotton. And now after nearly a year of advocacy from Change.org members, Gymboree will join their ranks. According to the statement on their website, "Gymboree prohibits the use of cotton sourced from Uzbekistan and textiles produced using Uzbekistan cotton because of Uzbekistan's history of forced child labor." It's a move that now puts Gymboree a step ahead of other children's brands, which ironically still use cotton harvested by kids.

Anti-Slavery will be following closely to ensure that Gymboree puts in place adequate tracking and tracing mechanisms to ensure that this commitment is enforced in practice.

This is an edited article originally published on change.org

Schoolchildren sent to cotton fields in Jizak Region

Uznews.net reported last week that schoolchildren in the Jizak region of Uzbekistan have been ordered to leave their classrooms and help farmers cultivate cotton by weeding fields.

 

A local teacher said the campaign was preventing school leavers from revising before their graduation exams. Those sent to the fields are 15 and 16 year-olds.

Sources claim that Jizak Regional education department was involved in sending high school pupils to the cotton fields. The campaign is no surprise to many activists trying to end the Uzbek government’s reliance on forced child labour to maximise its yields from cotton growing and exports each year. 

 

Uzbekistan exports about 1 million tonnes of cotton fibre every year. The Jizak Region is an important cotton producing area for the country.

Uzbekistan sets up child labour monitoring group

The Uzbek government has announced the formation of a new working group to ensure no forced child labour is used in Uzbekistan. Yet Tashkent has still not issued an invitation to the ILO to visit Uzbekistan during the cotton harvest this autumn.

The working group includes government ministries and government-organised social organisations but there are no representatives from independent NGOs or civil society. The officially-sanctioned group says it will monitor conditions of labour for children under 18 and prevent the worst forms of child labour, as required under ILO conventions.

Based on reports of the systematic use of forced child labour, the ILO has sought an invitation to visit Uzbekistan and monitor conditions during the cotton harvest. The announcement of the working group seems to give the semblance of cooperation with the ILO while distracting from the fact that Tashkent has continued to refuse to issue the invitation.

Umida Niyazova, head of the Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights, told cottoncampaign.org that the measure seemed to be largely for show:

This is a peculiar response by the government to its own decision to refuse an ILO mission. Forced child labour in Uzbekistan exists precisely because the government supports this system. Therefore, it would be naive and absurd to suppose that the government is capable of monitoring itself, knowing that it is the state itself that is responsible for the existence of this problem.

It remains to be seen how much the working group will really function, and whether it will attempt to displace authentic monitoring activity by Uzbekistan’s beleaguered human rights groups.

This is an abridged version of an article posted on cottoncampaign.org