According to reports on The Guardian, Uzbekistan forces children as young as nine to pick cotton in conditions which have been described by charity group, Anti-Slavery International, as ’appalling’.
Several high street retailers, including H&M, are due to be targeted by the charity as part of its ’Cotton Campaign’ to stop these companies purchasing goods from suppliers who use this cotton.
A spokesman for Anti-Slavery International say: “Unless H&M implements the practical steps set out by the cotton campaign, it is nearly impossible for us to be confident that H&M’s goods are truly free from state-sponsored forced labour.
“By implementing these steps, we can be confident that H&M is doing everything it can to support an end to the use of forced labour.”
In response, H&M told UK newspaper The Guardian that it has a policy of keeping Uzbek cotton out of its products, which it communicates with all suppliers and added that “while our systems continue to evolve, we aim for all cotton to come from more sustainable, fully traceable sources by 2020, at the latest”.
The problem for H&M is that much of this cotton ends up in Bangladesh and China, two key manufacturing bases for retailers, but is difficult to trace its original source.
