By Mike McCue
Editor

Hungry for cotton, the European Council approved an amendment to the EU’s Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Uzbekistan back in February, extending favorable customs and tariff agreements to the Central Asian country. However, the European Parliament has not yet ratified the amendment, which is under further pressure as activists and some legislators object to doing business with a country that has come under fire for its child labor practices, according to this story published on www.eurasianet.org.

The Objections to Its Passage
Activist groups such as Anti-Slavery International claim that nearly half of Uzbekistan’s annual cotton production (it’s the sixth-largest producer and third-largest exporter) is hand-picked by state-sponsored, forced child labor. Those who complain about the practice could easily lose their jobs as a reprisal for voicing their objections, they say, and as a result, activist organizations want the EU to cut off trade with Uzbekistan completely.

One member of the European Parliament said that passage of the amendment would send the wrong message, whereas delaying its passage would keep Uzbekistan in line because they know they are being watched.

Arguments in Favor of Its Passage
One Parliament member, Holder Standertskjold-Nordenstam, spoke out in favor of passing the amendment, offering two reasons for his positive stance:
1.Ratcheting the pressure too high might prompt Uzbekistan to simply sell its cotton elsewhere, further tightening the EU’s supply.
2.The protocol doesn’t really give the EU any economic leverage to work with.

Sources say government officials in Uzbekistan aren’t particularly concerned about the EU’s threats, believing them to be empty. If the country doesn’t change its practices and is subsequently rebuffed by the EU through lack of preferential treatment or some type of trade sanction, it will simply sell its cotton to buyers in other parts of the world.