US Department of Labor removes Uzbek cotton from the list of products produced by child labor

The US Department of Labor has removed the Uzbek cotton from the "black list" of products produced by forced or child labor.

The Labor Department introduced the first proposal for delisting Uzbekistan from the list on July 31, 2018. As a result of continuous monitoring since introduction of the proposal, a decision has been made.

“The US Department of State has come to the conclusion that the use of forced child labor in cotton harvesting in Uzbekistan has been dramatically reduced and child labor has been observed only in certain cases. Therefore, there is no reason to keep this product on the black list,” the US Department of Labor said in a statement.

For reference, Uzbekistan's cotton was added to the executive list No.13126 in 2010, according to which the US federal agencies prohibited buying Uzbekistan's goods and raw materials produced by means of forced labor or child labor.

It should be recalled that in February 2019, Cotton Campaign, which incorporated 310 world-renowned brands, met with the government of Uzbekistan and acknowledged that forced labor in the country's cotton fields in 2018 had dropped dramatically. Although the government had done significant work to end forced labor, it could not be completely eliminated. Therefore, the boycott of Uzbek cotton was not ceased.