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Booted from Fashion Week, Dictator’s Daughter is Venue-Shopping

admin — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 23:11:25 +0000

After IMG, the organizers of New York City’s Fashion Week decided to cancel the show of Gulnara Karimova over her association with the autocratic Uzbek regime, she began shopping for a more amenable venue.

Now the daughter of Uzbekistan’s dictator Islam Karimov is planning to relocate her disgraced show to the posh restaurant and event space Cipriani, the New York Post reported:

Next up on the menu at Cipriani: hot potato!

Gulnara Karimova, the fashion-designing daughter of Uzbekistan’s ruthless dictator, aims to stage her runway show at upscale restaurant Cipriani after getting booted from Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, The Post has learned.

After protests from human rights groups and pickets by Uzbek émigrés about torture, political imprisonment and forced child labor, IMG said it was “horrified” and first ask Karimova to withdraw voluntarily. When she didn’t, the Fashion Week organizers abruptly disinvited her.

IMG is said now to be in negotiations about a refund of $30,000 in rental fees, only a portion of the funds that Karimova had shelled out to display her Guli ethnic clothing line, says the Post.

As she was searching for a location, Karimova also reportedly reached out to a number of friendly foreign missions, including those of Russia, Spain and the United Arab Emirates. The Uzbek president appointed his daughter as ambassador to Spain and also envoy to UN organizations in Geneva.

Cipriani, which hasn’t confirmed the event according to the Post, has itself been mired in controversy with the owner having pled guilty to $10 million in tax evasion.

Despite the cancellation, a coalition of labor and human rights groups vowed to stage their picket of Fashion Show on September 15 to call on the apparel industry not to source cotton in Uzbekistan.

Already more than 60 US and European companies and a major industry association have pledged not to use Uzbek cotton and have called on Tashkent to allow the International Labor Organization to inspect the cotton fields during the harvest, Responsible Sourcing Network reported.

This article originally appeared on Choihona at EurasiaNet.

Fashion Week Organizers “Horrified” by Human Rights Abuses in Uzbekistan

Catherine A. Fitzpatrick — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:36:23 +0000

Gulnara Karimova, the controversial daughter of President Islam Karimov, dictator of Uzbekistan, is expected next week in New York at Fashion Week at Lincoln Center.

Today the New York Post reports that Human Rights Watch is questioning whether the sponsors of Fashion Week should include Karimova, who is her country’s ambassador to Spain and associated with the oppressive regime of her father.

“There’s nothing fashionable about lending a high-profile platform to the senior official of one of the world’s most repressive governments,” Steve Swerdlow, HRW’s Uzbekistan researcher is quoted as saying.

Karimova will be showing her “Guli” fashion line which includes Middle Eastern and Asian ethnic clothing said to be “green” in its use of native cotton. But that makes it suspect for labor rights campaigners, however, as Uzbekistan is documented as using forced child labor to pick cotton.

Already this season, students of the ages of 14-16 are being mobilized into the cotton fields by government order, and taken away from their studies, the Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights reports.

WikiLeaks has recently revealed alleged cables that highlight troubling inconsistencies in US and UNICEF policies on the issue of child labor in Uzbekistan and other cables have surfaced indicating how the US has compromised human rights principles for the sake of military concerns.

IMG, the agency which produces Fashion Week, which is sponsored by Mercedes-Benz, appears not to have known about Karimova’s notorious reputation. An IMG spokesman told the New York Post:

We’re horrified by the human-rights abuses in Uzbekistan, and hope that the attention Human Rights Watch generates is able to effect change in the country. We also hope to work hand-in-hand with Human Rights Watch during Fashion Week and beyond to challenge those in power in Uzbekistan to take action immediately.

Even so, IMG plans to go ahead with Karimova’s fashion show. Mercedes-Benz, which has a joint venture in Uzbekistan to sell its buses for public transportation, has not yet commented on the implications of Karimova’s involvement in Fashion Week.

The International Labor Rights Forum is planning to picket Karimova on September 15 with a mock fashion show to dramatize the use of forced child labor in Uzbekistan’s cotton industry.

The campaigners say some retailers visible in New York have pledged not to use Uzbek cotton, including Macy’s, The Gap, Walmart and H&M, but others, such as Forever 21, are still being petitioned to take a position on the issue.

This article first appeared on Choihona at EurasiaNet.

Labor Activists to Picket Uzbek President’s Daughter at NYC Fashion Week

Catherine A. Fitzpatrick — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 05:20:53 +0000

International Labor Rights Forum

As we reported, Gulnara Karimova, daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, is presenting her fashion line, GULI, at New York Fashion Week (September 8-15).

Labor and human rights activists are planning to hold a demonstration outside her show in New York City on September 15 with the slogan “Forced Child Labor is Out of Style!”

Every year, the government of Uzbekistan removes up to two million children from schools across the country and forces them to pick cotton. This widely documented, abusive state policy enriches a cadre of elites, including the Karimov family, and fuels a regime characterized as “an authoritarian state” by the U.S. Department of State.

Uzbekistan is among the largest cotton producing countries in the world and cotton harvested there by forced child labor finds its way into the U.S. garment industry.

The International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) is calling for people in the New York area to come and support the action:

We need your support this month in New York to end this abuse! Join us in telling Gulnara Karimova, who prides herself on using Uzbek textiles, that we won’t let children become fashion victims. Come to a rally on the streets outside her fashion show, where young New Yorkers will put on their own fashion show, walking the runway to urge justice for their peers in Uzbekistan.

Find out more details and RSVP online here.

The rally to stop forced child labour in Uzbekistan will take place Thursday, September 15 from 11 am to 1 pm at The Studio at the Lincoln Center, which is at the corner of W. 65th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.

For more information contact Tim Newman at tim.newman@ilrf.org or +1-202-347-4100 x113.

Dictator’s Daughter Expected at New York’s Fall Fashion Week

Catherine A. Fitzpatrick — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 04:21:17 +0000

Gulnara Karimova at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East, 2009. Photo by Nader Daoud .

Once again, Gulnara Karimova, the controversial daughter of Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov, will be on the runway during Fashion Week in New York City this fall as she was last year.

Mercedes Benz, sponsor of the Fashion Week September 8-15, announced today that Gulnara is on the calendar to show her Guli label. The dictator’s daughter is described as being very well educated, with a Ph.D. in political science from the University of World Economy and Diplomacy in Tashkent.

Karimova, revealed in an alleged US embassy cable exposed by WikiLeaks to be “the most hated person in Uzbekistan,” has become notorious in the world media for her alleged involvement in Zeromax, a state-organized conglomerate of businesses involved in everything from oil to food to textiles which was seized by the Uzbek government last year and put into bankruptcy.

Various labor and human rights groups campaigning against the use of forced child labor in the cotton industry are expected to mount protests in New York.

Such organizations as the International Labor Rights Forum have recently been petitioning successfully to get brands like Carter’s, Gymboree and The Children’s Place to pledge not to source their cotton in Uzbekistan. Earlier, Marks & Spencer, Target, Gap, C&A, H&M, Wal-Mart and Tesco were among the companies that pledged to avoid Uzbek cotton.

The U.S. Department of Labor has prohibited the acquisition of cotton from Uzbekistan due to the use of forced child labor.

The International Labor Organization has expressed grave concerns about the allegations of forced child labor in Uzbekistan, but the government has refused to invite the ILO into the country for an inspection of conditions during the cotton harvest.

This article first appeared on Choihona at EurasiaNet.

LL Bean vows to exclude Uzbek cotton

admin — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:44:04 +0000

Duckboots back on the shopping list

Of all the companies named by the International Labor Rights Forum on this year’s Sweatshop Hall of Shame for the use of Uzbek cotton, LL Bean was the fastest to respond, and vowed to (eventually) exclude it from their supply chain. Let’s hope their follow through is as exhaustive as their initial response was rapid.

Read more on the ILRF blog here. If you buy LL Bean products, take time to let their corporate office know that this is important to you.

LL Bean, Hanes, Gymboree: child exploiters

admin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:56:24 +0000

The International Labor Rights Forum released its list of Sweatshop Hall of Shame inductees for 2009. They include some of the best-known American retailers of children’s clothing…who refuse to stop profiting from the exploitation of children in Uzbekistan. ILRF writes:

While over 25 companies have committed to boycotting the use of Uzbek

cotton until the government ends its abusive labor practices, there are still

many companies that haven’t stepped up to the plate. Gymboree, Hanes,

2

and LL Bean have been contacted and yet they refuse to concretely address this pervasive

problem.

While over 25 companies have committed to boycotting the use of Uzbek cotton until the government ends its abusive labor practices, there are still many companies that haven’t stepped up to the plate. Gymboree, Hanes and LL Bean have all been contacted, and yet they refuse to concretely address this pervasive problem.

My holiday shopping list sure has changed, and I hope many other consumers will do the same.

Dubai defaults…on human rights

admin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:25:24 +0000

It wasn’t too much of a surprise to read that the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre bonds were placed on credit watch negative recently, after being downgraded to junk status in June. Is a business model built on willful, knowing exploitation of forced child labor really sustainable in any sense?

Maybe five years ago, traders could claim ignorance about Uzbekistan’s mass child enslavement for the cotton harvest. Not anymore. Multiple actors have approached the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre with the evidence directly, at least from 2008. In July of this year the American Apparel and Footwear Association, in league with the (U.S.) National Retail Federation and two other major trade groups, wrote to the DMCC director, David Rutledge, and requested action. The DMCC, after all, is a critical actor enabling the Uzbek government to profit from it exploitive practices. And what action was taken? A big roll-out of new services at the Tashkent Cotton Fair, and more cotton purchases: the DMCC traded 20,000 tons by October and placed an order for 70,000 more! (Dr. Rutledge has since been replaced by the former head of the Dubai Gold Exchange, Malcolm Wall Morris.)

As the cotton works its way up the production chain, consumers are sending the message to retailers (and many retailers are reacting…and those that are not are being called on it). But the first-line facilitators of this outrage such as the DMCC have an obligation to act, too.

Independent World Report calls out European brands: join the boycott!

admin — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:42:20 +0000

Editor Tasneem Khalil put together an amazing piece of work on the issue, asking why political entities (the EU) and the intergovernmental set (UNICEF) are lagging behind corporations in taking action on forced child labor in Uzbek cotton. They clearly need to do more–much more—to catch up with corporate actors who have taken the lead. There are, though, retailers who hide behind the supposed hurdle of traceability, and Khalil found that two of them–H&M and Inditex–are likely using Uzbek cotton through finished good suppliers in Bangladesh:

When I emailed H&M seeking its comment on my investigation that revealed two H&M suppliers in Bangladesh are using fabric made of Uzbek cotton in their productions, H&M emailed back: “We do not demand that our suppliers in Bangladesh keep us informed about the source of fabric or yarn. We can not exclude the possibility that some of the suppliers you have been in contact with could supply fabric or yarn for H&M products.”

Another major European company that does not publicly boycott Uzbek cotton is Inditex. As my investigation found that two Inditex brands – Zara and Bershka – are directly sourcing their garments from a supplier in Bangladesh who imports 45%-50% of its cotton from Uzbekistan, I asked Inditex for its comments on specific findings of my investigation. However, Inditex chose not to comment on those specific inquiries.

But the cotton can be traced, and is being traced by retailers who care enough to do it:

Juliette Williams [of the Environmental Justice Foundation] refuted the claim saying, “Identifying the source of cotton used by major brands and all the steps along the supply chain is possible. It can be done and has been done. No one thinks that tracing cotton is simple. But, it is certainly not impossible. Look at companies like Tesco and Wal-Mart, which have made a public commitment to avoid Uzbek cotton. The fact that cotton at its various stages of production and processing is traded internationally is important, as there is always paperwork that enables transit through customs. In short, we know that at every stage somebody knows where the cotton is coming from. Companies need to spend some effort, ask the right questions and let their suppliers know what is required, or, in the case of Uzbek cotton, what they want to avoid. They do it for quality reasons, why not for ethical reasons too?”

Read the entire article here: http://www.independentworldreport.com/2009/09/blood-cotton/