UK Accepts NGO Complaint on EU Companies Profiting from Uzbek Child Labor
German non-governmental organizations that targeted the European Union's companies trading in Uzbek cotton and thus profiting from forced child labor have begun to see some response as their complaints to a regional economic body have been accepted in the United Kingdom.
Last October, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) filed a complaint with the Organisation for Economic Co-Cooperation and Development (OECD), a 33-member body based in Paris devoted to economic development, sustainable growth and financial stability.
ECCHR, joined by partner organizations Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights of Germany, Guido Ehrler of Switzerland and Sherpa of France detailed allegations of systematic child labor and forced labor against seven cotton dealers from Switzerland, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, hoping to draw the EU's attention to the problem of its involvement in child labor in Uzbekistan.
In a statement distributed by e-mail March 23, Miriam Saage-Maas and Yvonne Veith of the Business and Human Rights Program of ECCHR in Berlin said the UK National Contact Point of the OECD had accepted two of the complaints filed in the UK regarding Cargill and ICT Cotton Ltd.
The assessments regarding Cargill and ICT have been published on the UK government's website.
The acceptance of the case by the UK's National Contact Point (NCP) means that a mediation process is now opened between the companies and the NGOs who filed the complaint. It does not mean that the OECD has made a finding that these companies have acted inconsistently with OECD guidelines. The UK NCP decision noted that the companies request to drop the complaint because of an ostensible lack of an "investment nexus" has been declined.
The UK's acceptance opens the way for other EU countries to accept the case. A decision from Germany is expected in late April, says ECCR.
The OECD has developed standards for corporate conduct which incorporate labor and human rights, and this enables NGOs like the ECCHR to file protests, making use of "soft law" or non-binding international standards.
Dozens of companies including Wal-Mart, Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Target, and The Gap have already pledged to remove Uzbek cotton from the source of their products over the issue of the exploitation of children. Yet a number of Western companies remain who are reluctant to vouch for their sources.
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