16 April 2020

The Cotton Campaign welcomes the challenge put forward by Uzbekistan’s Minister of Labor Khusanov to end the Uzbek Cotton Pledge and work collaboratively to “enter a new chapter of reform” and to promote employment opportunities for the people of Uzbekistan. Indeed, since forming in 2007, the Cotton Campaign has worked to end the state sponsored forced labor system that has held the country back for so long. Now the Cotton Campaign is taking the initiative to develop a framework to encourage responsible sourcing, while providing brands with assurances that forced labor is addressed and civil society is empowered. “The issue is not whether to end the pledge but when and how to do so, and above all how ending the pledge can become a catalyst for responsible sourcing and investment that supports labor and human rights in a reforming Uzbekistan,” said Bennett Freeman, Cotton Campaign co-founder and former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights.