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 Rutledge has since been replaced by the former head of the Dubai Gold Exchange, Malcolm Wall Morris.)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.

Fergana.ru published the list (see it reproduced below) of those attending the conference. It is an interesting document for many reasons, a few of which are highlighted here:

• First, it gives manufacturers and retailers some hard data to aid the process of tracing potential Uzbek cotton in their supply chains, a process which is ongoing;
• Secondly, it underlines the degree to which large Western commodities firms (Paul Reinhart, Louis Dreyfus, Cargill among others) continue to feel immune from any kind of shame in profiting from the misery and exploitation of children, four years after the International Crisis Group brought it to their direct attention, and in the face of a mountain of evidence in the intervening years.  Among the newer intermediaries, the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre was well represented, too.  Last year it was reported to have sold 200,000 tons of Uzbek cotton, a fairly big chunk of the harvest;
• Thirdly, it sheds a tiny sliver of light on the actors who may be financing/insuring these transactions, and therefore also partaking in the wealth created by child exploitation.  AIG Insurance and the Royal Bank of Scotland should explain their presence at the fair in this regard;
• Lastly, it indicates the increasingly heavy presence of spinners and textile manufacturers, especially from Turkey, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who may be obtaining the cotton directly.

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Anyway, the fair is October 14-15 in Tashkent and I hear the Uzbeks were pretty stingy with visas to attend.  Any participants, of course, would learn about where the cotton is headed…facts the Uzbek government would like (but is not able) to keep hidden.

Press on the fair is a little hard to stomach, touting the high quality of Uzbek cotton, conveniently leaving out the part about being picked by little hands.  The self-delusion of the official press agency is almost sad, claiming as it does that the Cotton Fair will “lead to the future growth of  [Uzbekistan's] international authority.” Maybe it could…if they would stop crushing their own future by sending children out to the cotton fields.