Cotton Campaign Ends Boycott Of Uzbek Cotton, Citing Progress On Labor Issues

Global human rights coalition the Cotton Campaign says it has ended its campaign to boycott Uzbek cotton and textiles, citing progress in eliminating forced labor during crop harvesting last year.

In a statement on March 10, Cotton Campaign said the move was made after its key partner, the Uzbek Forum for Human Rights, concluded that there was no forced labor on cotton fields in the Central Asian nation in 2021.

"This breakthrough in ending systematic, state-imposed forced labor was catalyzed by the brave labor and human rights defenders in Uzbekistan who took great risks to expose human rights violations in the cotton sector. Their years of fearless monitoring and reporting drove the world to take action to protect Uzbek workers," Umida Niyazova, director of Uzbek Forum for Human Rights, said in the statement.

The boycott, launched in 2006, was followed by more than 260 apparel manufacturers and retailers globally.

Rights groups have called on Uzbekistan for many years to eradicate a long-running state-controlled system forcing millions of citizens to pick cotton and meet harvest quotas.

Since coming to power in 2016, President Shavkat Mirziyoev has gradually introduced laws to eliminate forced labor and child labor, and banned provincial authorities from forcing students and public workers to pick cotton.