Alerts

05/11/2010

USA-ITA Signs Coalition Letter Aimed at Ending Forced Child Labor in Uzbekistan

On May 11, a coalition of 18 associations, retailers, apparel brands, and NGOs sent letters to Assistant Secretary of State for Southeast Asia Robert Blake and to Deputy Undersecretary for the Bureau of International Labor Affairs Sandra Polaski.  The letters ask the Obama Administration officials  to put pressure on the government of Uzbekistan to stop using child labor in the cotton fields.

Reports from within Uzbekistan continue to suggest that the country employed state-sponsored child labor to bring in the 2009 cotton harvest. With the approach of the International Labor Conference, the coalition asks the US government to intercede and urge Uzbekistan to fully participate. Click here for a copy of the Blake letter. Click here for a copy of the Polaski letter.