Palm | Kelapa Sawit

As this year's cotton harvesting season draws near, Environmental Justice Foundation is worrying that the Uzbek regime will once again force the children to pick cotton.

EJF says "contrary to promises by Karimov’s regime not to force children into the fields to pick their billion dollar crop, it sounds like it will be business as usual, unless urgent action is taken."

EJF has long campaigned against the government practice of forced child labour on cotton fields in Uzbekistan. The NGO is seeking international support to boycott cotton from Uzbekistan and put pressure on the rulers of Uzbekistan to take corrective measures.

Should we hope that hundreds of thousands of Uzbek children will be in school this autumn and not toiling in a cotton field?

We have covered the issue in Ethical Corporation several times. See some of them here. And here. Also a podcast here.

Just to mention, EJF was awarded the Highly Commended Effective Campaigner award at Ethical Corporation 2010 Responsible Business Awards.