An open letter to Donald Nicholson, head of the US Chamber of Commerce in Uzbekistan:
Dear Mr. Nicholson,
At an informational meeting held on August 19th in Tashkent, we, along with most of the representatives of the community, were extremely surprised to hear your announcement that you are buying Uzbek cotton.
We are open-minded to all sorts of business activity. But at a time when influential trade companies all over the world are boycotting Uzbek cotton due to the use of child labor, at time when children are picking cotton – Uzbekistan’s “white gold” — for no compensation, we would appreciate an explanation of your actions.
Because the government in Uzbekistan is an authoritarian dictatorship, child labor has continued unabated for nearly twenty years. The regime, which today operates with absolute lawlessness, uses children as slaves, denying them education or even a break from their labor. The future of Uzbekistan’s children is being destroyed for the sake of cotton.
Politicans, human rights activists and others in the international community have called on the government of Uzbekistan to stop its practice of child labor. Many influential trade organizations in democratic states have begun boycotting Uzbek cotton and have started campaigns and other actions regarding this issue.
Mr. Nicholson, we ask that you open your heart and mind to our plea. Is it possible that you are not aware of the slave labor that claims innocent children in the cotton fields each year? Hundreds of young children have disappeared in the cotton fields. We should not close our eyes to the fact that for every bit of cotton harvested, millions of school children suffer under forced labor.
We beg of you – please stop buying cotton from Uzbekistan immediately! There is no time like today.
In the future there will be political and economic reforms in Uzbekistan. I hope that you will stand with the people of Uzbekistan and regard the cotton industry with caution in the days to come.
Sincerely,
Bahodir Hasan begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting Choriyev
Leader of the Birdamlik (“Solidarity”) movement, USA
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