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C O N F I D E N T I A L TASHKENT 002049 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/30/2017 
TAGS: ICAC ECON ETRD PREL PHUM UK XZ EN LG UZ
SUBJECT: FOREIGN LABELS BOYCOTTING UZBEK COTTON 
 
REF: TASHKENT 1734 
 
Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY ECON OFF B. OLSEN FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D). 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: International concern over Uzbekistan's use 
of child labor to pick cotton is not new.  However, the 
October airing of BBC's "Newsnight" investigative program on 
the issue re-ignited interest that is quickly gaining 
international momentum.  Fueled by the program and internet 
sites critical of Uzbekistan, an international call to 
boycott Uzbek cotton is emerging.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (C) In Britain, some of the largest retailers/brands, such 
as Topshop, Burton and Wallis, are under public pressure to 
cease purchasing garments made with Uzbek cotton.  (Note: The 
majority of raw Uzbek cotton this year has already been sold 
to foreign buyers, 70 percent of which are Asian.  Cotton 
exports account for 16 percent of Uzbek GDP.  Reftel explains 
the process in more detail.  End note.)  British-owned 
Continental Clothing started an awareness-campaign against 
Uzbek cotton on its website.  The British Ambassador told the 
Charge on November 28 that the issue is becoming more salient 
in the UK, adding that several large British department 
stores, including Marks and Spencer and NEXT, have reportedly 
informed their purchasers not to purchase garments made with 
Uzbek cotton.  The British Ambassador added that Bangladesh, 
a major buyer of Uzbek cotton, exports garments to the UK 
made with Uzbek cotton, demonstrating that this issue is 
global, i.e. boycotting Uzbek cotton could affect many 
countries other than Uzbekistan. 
 
¶3. (U) Nordic clothing labels are joining the bandwagon as 
well.  Marimekko, a Finnish textile and clothing chain, 
stopped buying cotton goods from one of Estonia's largest 
textile firms, Kreenholm.  In response, Kreenholm suspended 
the use of Uzbek cotton until it is clear that child labor is 
not used in Uzbek fields.  The Swedish media has publicized 
the issue and H&M, a Swedish international clothing chain, is 
under increasing pressure to follow Marimekko. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Responding to the BBC program, in early November the 
Uzbek Embassy in London issued a public statement that the 
"issue of so-called forced child labor in cotton fields in 
Uzbekistan...mismatches with reality."  Additionally, it says 
agricultural enterprises are no longer controlled by the 
state.  On Nov. 29 the Uzbek Embassy in Latvia (the only one 
in the Nordic-Baltic region) issued a similar statement in 
reaction to Marimekko and H&M's move: "The mounting media 
campaign against Uzbekistan...is completely wrong...This is 
an attempt at unscrupulous competition and political and 
economic pressure...There are no state farms in Uzbekistan, 
which rules out the possibility of compulsive farming." 
 
¶5. (SBU) Comment: The Uzbek Government thus has not denied 
the use of child labor, just the use of forced child labor. 
The issues are (a) the extent to which child labor still is 
used and (b) the role the Uzbek authorities play in 
encouraging or discouraging child labor.  (See septel for the 
International Labor Organization's representative's 
assessment of the situation.) 
HANSON