Uzbekistan | Be a Seed for Change

Dear Activist,Target often offers prices that seem too good to be true – so how do they keep their prices so low?It turns out some of Target’s products might be so cheap because they are made with slave-picked cotton from Uzbekistan and/or purchased from Daewoo International, a company that accounts for approximately 20% of all cotton processed in Uzbekistan.

Tell Target to sign the Daewoo Protocol to fight modern slavery in Uzbekistan.

Thanks for all you do!

Bob Fertik

Dear Activist,

We know – a great deal can be hard to resist. And Target often offers prices that seem too good to be true. It makes you think – how do they keep their prices so low? We’ve recently learned that some of Target’s products might be so cheap because they are made with slave-picked cotton from Uzbekistan and/or purchased from Daewoo International, a company that accounts for approximately 20% of all cotton processed in Uzbekistan. Every year, during the harvest season, over a million children and adults – including teachers, nurses and doctors – are ripped out of their homes, schools and jobs, and forced to work in the cotton fields of Uzbekistan to meet daily picking quotas. While Target has signed the pledge to not buy slave-picked Uzbek cotton, they are still doing business with Daewoo, a company that clearly profits from the exploitation of children and adults in Uzbekistan. If Target is truly serious about keeping slavery out of its stores, Target needs to stop doing business with Daewoo and agree to implement the Daewoo Protocol – a series of steps companies need to take to eliminate slave-picked cotton from their supply chains. Call on Target to eliminate the threat of slave-picked cotton in their stores by joining the Daewoo Protocol. We expect more from Target, a company that takes pride in holding the highest ethical standards for itself and for its business partners.So we called and asked Target to join the Daewoo Protocol which is supported by retailers declining to do business with Daewoo until it takes serious steps to stop sourcing slave-picked Uzbek cotton.

Target said they didn’t need to sign the Daewoo Protocol because they have a “No Uzbek Cotton” policy. But such a policy only works if you’re willing to enforce it.

Tell Target to sign the Daewoo Protocol and stop supporting modern slavery in Uzbekistan. After you take action, please take a moment to spread the word by forwarding this email to 3 of your friends. Thank you, Debra, Nick, Jacqui, Jessica, Hayley, Jess, Mich, Amy and the Walk Free Team

Walk Free is a movement of people everywhere, fighting to end one of the world’s greatest evils: Modern slavery.

Hi Carmen,Toys ‘R’ Us is a kid’s playground. But sadly, it could be enabling the government of Uzbekistan to strip the childhoods of its kids by making them pick the cottonthat makes it into toys and clothes.Tell Toys ‘R’ Us to only use responsibly sourced cotton »

Uzbekistan is the third largest cotton exporter in the world. But instead of using machinery to harvest the cotton, the government forces tens of thousands of children to leave school for the cotton fields every year. For their back-breaking labor they get a pittance of pay while the government pockets most of the profits.

More than 70 of the world’s largest retail and apparel brands have taken a stand against child and slave labor by enacting policies to prohibit the use of Uzbekistan cotton in their products. But Toys ‘R’ Us not only has no such policy, it hasn’t even addressed the issue.

One child shouldn’t have to suffer factory work so another can get a teddy bear or a new outfit. Urge Toys ‘R’ Us to ban suppliers from sourcing Uzbek cotton to help end child labor »