Petitioner Behind New WRO on Cotton From Turkmenistan Pleased
The Cotton Campaign, which petitioned CBP to stop imports of goods using cotton from Turkmenistan, celebrated CBP's recently issued Withhold Release Order (see 1805210028). “CBP’s decision is an important step towards ending one the most egregious cases of state-orchestrated forced labor left in the world,” said Eric Gottwald, Legal & Policy director of the International Labor Rights Forum, in a statement in a Cotton Campaign news release. “Now CBP must put the ban into practice by identifying and stopping specific shipments of goods made with Turkmen cotton.”
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The WRO applies to all Turkmenistan cotton or products produced in whole or in part with Turkmenistan cotton. “CBP’s ban means retailers and brands need to move quickly to identify and eliminate Turkmen cotton from their supply chains,” said Patricia Jurewicz, co-founder of the Cotton Campaign and director of the Responsible Sourcing Network. “We’ve seen corporate and regulatory pressure work in Uzbekistan, and now is the time for brands and retailers to ban Turkmen cotton like Inditex, Ikea, VF Corp., and follow the lead of H&M and sign the Turkmen Cotton Pledge to help end state-orchestrated forced labor in Turkmenistan,” she added.