White Gold: The True Cost of Cotton

Up to one third of Uzbekistan's workforce is made to labour on cotton
farms; denied ownership of the land they work, and forced to labour without
reasonable wages they are unable to opt out of cotton cultivation -- those who
try are subject to violence, imprisonment and intimidation. Tens of thousands
of children are forced to pick the cotton harvest each year. Crucially, the suffering
caused by this industry comes at the hands of the government. It is the
Uzbek state, not the country's mafia that instigates the abuses connected to
the production and sale of cotton turning its people in to a slave nation.
For more information please visit www.ejfoundation.org

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• cotton
• ethical
• clothing
• environment
• fashion
• childl
• labour
• climate
• change
• Aral
• Sea
• Nukus
• Karakalpakistan
• Muynak

[dkjan]

Wow my heart goes to Uzbek citizens. They have to oust the current president. He is not doing anything to benefit ordinary citizens of Uzbekistan.

[nocotton]

Sounds like a corrupt government, but I'm sure they'd clean their act up a lot with a different crop----yeah right. Blame it on a renewable/natural resource that is literally on most of you right at this moment?? Don't blame it on cotton (at 58 cents a pound??) Blame it on people.

[avazhuja]

@hyperhappihippie no i think only jealous people say like this,because Uzbekistan is one of the fastest developing countries in the world!

[johnifly]

Start manufacturing back in the United States and this stuff will stop!! Anything for cheap labor!!

[TalinaOO7]

Ok everytime we do this not buy a product from someone using child labor we end up making it worse for the children. This happened when we stopped purchasing from factories that used child labor, then the children had to prostitue to make money. We need to find smarter ways to stop this

[D1G17ALPH33R]

kids these days. children need to learn to work.

[blasttower1]

even Borad says uzbekistan is failing as a country ,and that means something ! =D

[hyperhappihippie]

wow that really is something

corrupt government

child labour

environmental catastrophy

uzbekistan looks like its failing as a country

[DavidTangye]

Try listening properly for a change. The report states that irrigation for cotton is the "primary" reason, not the only reason.