Human Trafficking and Forced Child Labor

As investors who apply an extra degree of diligence to our capital markets holdings – whether compelled by faith or in the interests of protecting human rights  – ICCR and its members are taking steps to end this form of modern-day slavery.   We are concerned about forced and slave labor, particularly when it involves children.

ICCR staff member Rev. David Schilling recently attended Building Bridges of Freedom - Public-Private Partnerships to Combat Modern Day Slavery, a conference on human trafficking sponsored by the American Embassy to the Holy See. Building Bridges brought together religious leaders, diplomats, academics, government officials, and corporate and civil society representatives to address the reality of modern slavery. ICCR is engaged in other global, anti-trafficking initiatives as well.

Child Labor in Uzbekistan

Child labor in the cotton fields of Uzbekistan is a government-sponsored program. Credible evidence exists that the use of child labor in Uzbek cotton continues on a systematic scale despite Uzbekistan’s ratification of several International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions relating to forced and child labor.

Closed Schools
The picture drawn is horrific. Every autumn, the Uzbek government closes schools and uses other coercive measures to force children out into its fields to pick much of the country’s annual 800,000 tons of cotton.  Uzbekistan is the third biggest cotton exporter in the world, and one of the five countries that dominate the global cotton industry, along with the US, China, India, and Pakistan. 

This modern-day slavery flies in the face of the rights of children, including their right to an education,  a core component of numerous international standards. The ILO conventions on child and forced labor are widely accepted as both ethical and moral standards and most of the world’s governments have ratified these conventions into national law. 

Consumers, who have little to no knowledge of the supply chains and work conditions that go into making a t-shirt or a pair of jeans just can’t win. They simply don’t have enough information.  How can you be sure that a pair of pants you’re about to buy wasn’t made with child labor, when you can’t follow the cotton thread all the way back to its field? 

Product Responsibility
Many global brands and retailers have begun analyzing the use of Uzbek cotton in their products and are working with their suppliers to address the matter. Additionally, four U.S. trade associations representing more than 90 percent of cotton merchandise sold in the U.S. have spoken out against the state-sponsored use of forced child labor in Uzbekistan.

By joining together, human rights organizations, investors, governments, trade unions, companies and consumers can put an end to the abuse that these children, many as young as ten years old, experience in the cotton fields.

Learn how you can support this and other aspects of ICCR's work.