End Child Labor in the Cotton Industry | End Human Trafficking

Act Now to End Child Labor in the Cotton Industry | End Human Trafficking | Change.org
Update: The most exciting part is that this e-mail action campaign is working! J Crew was originally included as part of this action, but within hours the company contacted ILRF and agreed to take a public stance against the abuses in Uzbek cotton production. The post below has been edited to reflect J Crew's commitment to standing against child labor.

The International Labor Rights Forum has written a lot about the widespread use of forced child labor in the cotton industry in Uzbekistan. Every year, the government of Uzbekistan removes thousands of children and teachers from school and forces them to pick cotton to enrich the ruling regime. The cotton then ends up in the clothes we buy here in the US and around the world.

So far, global campaign efforts have led the government of Uzbekistan to sign the two International Labor Organization Conventions related to child labor, but as a new report released by ILRF earlier this month showed, the practice continued throughout this most recent fall harvest season. Many major global corporations have committed top stop sourcing Uzbek cotton (which is the demand of Uzbek human rights activists). But companies like Abercrombie & Fitch, Fred's, and Gymboree have not taken any action to stop forced child labor in the cotton industry. You can send them a quick message to stop this exploitation here.

Here are some easy ways to take action and make a difference!

1. Send an e-mail to Abercrombie & Fitch, Fred's, and Gymboree.

2. If you are on Facebook, become a "fan" of Abercrombie and Fitch and Gymboree to post a comment like this: Abercrombie and Fitch: When will you STOP using forced child labor in your cotton?