EJF's organic cotton campaign t-shirts are PERFECT to wear - made with organic fairly traded cotton!
EJF's organic cotton campaign t-shirts are PERFECT to wear - made with organic fairly traded cotton!

Free Admission to film screening and panel discussion at the Human Rights Action Centre in London on 8 October 2009 at 7pm

At Amnesty International UK
The Human Rights Action Centre
17-25 New Inn Yard
London EC2A 3EA

Book your FREE ticket to the What Not To Wear event today

Uzbekistan is the third biggest exporter of cotton in the world. Its booming cotton industry generates over US$1billion annually, but the industry, which largely supplies the European market, is underpinned by a system of state-sponsored forced labour, particularly of children.

 
Each September the cotton harvest begins. Many schools are closed down as children, some as young as ten, are sent to the fields to pick cotton by hand for up to three months. They receive little, if any, pay. (c) EJF
Each September the cotton harvest begins. Many schools are closed down as children, some as young as ten, are sent to the fields to pick cotton by hand for up to three months. They receive little, if any, pay. (c) EJF
Schools are closed down for the duration of the cotton harvest and children, some as young as 10 years old, are sent to the fields to pick cotton by hand for little or no pay. Students who fail to meet their targets or refuse to work are reportedly punished with detentions and beatings or can face expulsion from school. Human rights groups estimate that up to 200,000 children are involved each year.

This discussion will focus on what can be done to end the use of forced labour in the cotton industry. Considering the action taken by some retailers to ban Uzbek cotton from their products, why do other retailers continue to use it? How can we as consumers ensure that the products we buy are free from slave labour and that we are not inadvertently contributing to the problem?

Film Screening of White Gold: the true cost of cotton by the Environmental Justice Foundation.

PANEL
  • Lucy Siegle, journalist, author and presenter (chair)
  • Joanna Ewart-James, Anti-Slavery International
  • Juliette Williams, The Environmental Justice Foundation
  • Steve Grinter, International Textile, Garment & Leather Workers’ Federation

Book your FREE ticket to the What Not To Wear event today