Daewoo: Help End Uzbek Cotton Slavery
- da: Walk Free
- destinatario: Mr. Lee Dong-Hee, CEO, Daewoo International Corp.
You may have heard of Daewoo cars or electronics but did you know that Daewoo is the largest processor of slave labour picked Uzbek cotton?
In Uzbekistan’s last cotton harvest, eleven citizens forced to pick cotton lost their lives. The tragic losses included Tursunali Sadikov, a 63-year old farmer who died of a heart attack after being beaten by an official of the Department of Internal Affairs, and Amirbek Rakhmatov, a six-year-old schoolboy who accompanied his mother to the cotton fields, napped in a trailer, and suffocated when cotton was loaded on top of him.
Daewoo has continued doing business in Uzbekistan even after publicly acknowledging that the Uzbek government uses forced labour to produce the cotton it buys and processes. Call on Daewoo to send a strong message to the Uzbek government that forced labour cannot continue by:
- stopping operations in Uzbekistan until the International Labour Organization has verified this practice has ended.
- publicly pledging its opposition to the Uzbek government’s forced labour system.
---
Image source: Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Uzbek Service
Dear Mr Lee Dong-Hee, CEO, Daewoo International Corp.,
I am shocked to learn that Daewoo continues its operations in Uzbekistan, whilst knowing that the authorities forcibly mobilise over a million citizens to cultivate and harvest cotton.
[Your comments here]
Daewoo must publicly pledge its opposition to slave labour in Uzbekistan and stop its cotton operations until the ILO has verified that the government has ended the use of forced labour.
Sincerely,
[Your name here]
