Goals and progress
Supply chain | Our program in action
Uzbek cotton
Location: Uzbekistan
Summary: Factories are often the focus of human rights issues — but we’re also beginning to look deeper into the supply chain. In Uzbekistan, we’re collaborating with human rights groups and other brands to address the use of child labor to harvest cotton.
There is growing momentum to curb the Government of Uzbekistan’s practice of orchestrating the use of children to manually harvest cotton. The use of child labor is absolutely unacceptable to Gap Inc. anywhere in our supply chain. For the immediate term, we have made it clear to our vendors and mills that we expect them to avoid knowingly sourcing textiles from mills that source cotton from Uzbekistan. Over the longer term, we’re committed to addressing this issue and believe that our sourcing practices, together with our participation in collective action with other stakeholders to influence the Uzbek government, will enable us to have a greater positive impact.
The use of child labor to harvest cotton is driven by diverse and deeply-ingrained forces in Uzbekistan, including: the historical legacy of compulsory labor mobilization for the cotton harvest; a “command economy” in the cotton sector, which gives the government control over what farmers plant, what inputs they use, what national production quotas they fill, and where they sell their crops; the repression of journalists and advocates who speak out on this issue; and the ease and profitability of mobilizing underage workers.
Along with other members of the growing coalition working toward change, we believe that the Government of Uzbekistan has the power to resolve the problem if it so chooses. In 2008, the Uzbek government ratified the ILO Minimum Age Convention (C138) and the Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention (C182), and issued a draft national action plan to combat child labor. While these commitments are important steps, the Uzbek government has not yet demonstrated meaningful and credible action toward eradicating the problem.
To encourage the Uzbek government to evolve its practices, we are working with a rapidly growing coalition of other organizations and groups, including: the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF); As You Sow; Center for Reflection, Education and Action (CREA); the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR); Calvert Investments, the Environmental Justice Foundation; other brands; and investor organizations. These partnerships help ensure that we are aligning our approach and making the most of the collective influence and expertise that others can bring to bear.
Our current prohibition of the use of textiles made with cotton from Uzbekistan is an important element of Gap Inc.’s efforts to support this broader strategy for change. We’re working with a supply chain traceability expert, Historic Futures, to explore tools that will help to ensure that this prohibition is respected.
Gap Inc., together with other coalition members, recently met with the Uzbek ambassador to the United States to voice our concerns and explore solutions directly. To continue building momentum, we have been sharing our experience and efforts with others interested in learning more about this issue so they can take action themselves. Feedback has indicated that the coalition’s efforts are making a difference with the Uzbek government. However, there is still much to be done.
Despite our level of commitment, addressing the use of child labor at the farm level is challenging for us and other retailers. Gap Inc.’s primary compliance expertise is in working with our direct suppliers — the factories that make our clothes — to ensure fair treatment of workers. It is more difficult for us to identify a raw material’s point of origin because it occurs at the most remote point of our supply chain. We’re currently working to launch a pilot tracking system that will increase our visibility into the country point of origin for raw materials.
