HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE COTTON PRODUCTION INDUSTRY IN UZBEKISTAN

Motion Text

That this House is concerned that the Government and associated public bodies may be inadvertently supporting human rights abuses in the cotton production industry in Uzbekistan through the procurement of cotton products for military, emergency and national health services; notes that schools in Uzbekistan are closed as hundreds of thousands of children are forced to pick cotton; further notes that children, with inadequate clothing, food and water, undertake arduous physical labour to reach assigned daily picking quotas; is further concerned that child labour is state-sponsored; and calls on the Government to respond to the voluntary bans of Uzbek cotton by some of the world's largest retailers, using its influence to support an end to forced child labour in Uzbekistan.