Lana Roelandts

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Uzbek cotton: a new spin on child labour in the clothing industry?

Case Study Analysis

The Republic of Uzbekistan is ‘one of five countries dominating global cotton production...’ (Crane &

Matten, 2010, p.334 (case study)). However, the country is tainted with the corruption of

government officials and the lack of basic democratic rights of its people, including children. This

case study analysis is an attempt to delve into the ethical implications of child labour in the Uzbek

cotton industry and establish whether these notions of “unethical” and “immoral” apply to this case.

1. After consideration, it can be established that there are indeed some human and employee

rights at stake in this case. According to British philosopher John Locke, who created the

notion of ‘natural rights’ of an individual, it was established that each and every individual is

entitled to the same basic human rights, such as ‘rights to life, freedom, property’. This

notion was then further extended to include ‘right to freedom of speech, conscience,

consent, privacy, and the entitlement to a fair legal process among others.’ (Crane & Matten,

2010, p.108). The Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan stipulates under Chapter 2:

Democracy, Article 13:

‘Democracy in the Republic of Uzbekistan shall rest on the principles common to all

mankind, according to which the ultimate value is the human being, his life,

freedom, honour, dignity and other inalienable rights.. Democratic rights and

freedoms shall be protected by the Constitution and the laws.’

(http://www.gov.uz/en/constitution/)
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It is apparent that the basic human rights of many of the child labourers, and other working

individuals in Uzbekistan are not receiving their basic rights of democratic freedom and that their

freedoms are not being protected by the Government of Uzbekistan. The freedom of choice to

partake in work in the cotton fields in Uzbekistan is not explicitly shown, however, as schools are

closed and children are compulsorily forced into labour during the harvesting season. It has become

apparent that there is a large amount of governmental hypocrisy regarding freedoms of individuals

in the nation of Uzbekistan. Under the Uzbekistan Constitution, Chapter 9: Economic and Social

Rights, Article 41:

Everyone shall have the right to education. The state shall guarantee free secondary

education. Schooling shall be under state supervision.

This also indicated human rights breach, by guaranteeing individual rights to education, however,

the schools are closed and students are forcefully made to cease study and work in the cotton fields

during harvesting season. This demonstrates the exploitation of the child labour forces, as it can be

assumed that many child workers would not be aware of their Constitutional rights, and therefore

are not in a position to reject the instructions of officials to work in the cotton industry.

Thee child labourers are not the only stakeholders in this case, however, they appear to be the

major focus. Uzbekistan focuses on the exportation of cotton to foreign buyers, mainly large

corporations which manufacture goods from the cotton produced, such as clothing labels like the

Swedish chain H&M. This therefore establishes a large network of stakeholders in foreign markets,

such as suppliers, employees and consumers in large corporations in other countries who depend on

the Uzbek cotton to maintain their own quality of life, whether it be through job security and

financial freedom, or through the freedom of purchasing cotton clothing products from reputable
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brands. This establishment of a ‘network model’ of stakeholders (Crane & Matten, 2010, p.63),

demonstrates that it is a difficult situation, dealing with child labour, as a boycott of the situation has

the potential to affect a larger amount of stakeholders in a global capacity. Therefore, further

assessment is required to establish whether the use of child labour is in fact detrimental to all

stakeholders involved.

2. With an Act Utilitarianism analysis of the child labour situation in the cotton industry in

Uzbekistan, it will be possible to establish whether the use of child labour in the industry is

deemed to be unethical in this instance. ‘Act utilitarianism looks to single actions and bases

the moral judgment on the amount of pleasure and the amount of pain this single action

causes.’ (Crane & Matten, 2010, p.104) This means that the pleasure and pain, and pros and

cons of a certain action are assessed, and an action is deemed to be ethical if the pleasures

outweigh the pains and is considered to be more beneficial to a larger number of people. In

this case there are a number of both pleasures and pains. One of the benefits of child labour

in this industry is that it is a cost-effective method, which means that production costs are

less than selling costs, and therefore it is a profitable business, however, the con of the cost-

effective method is that the child labour is being exploited and the pay rate is so excessively

low (40 cents per day), that it is not adequate to maintain a high quality of life.

Another pro of child labour is, with the closing down of schools during harvesting season and

the use of many child labourers, harvesting can be done at a much faster rate and therefore

exportation of the cotton to foreign buyers is a much faster process. However, as stated

previously, the child labourers appear to not have any basic worker’s rights such as a set

minimum wage that is at an adequate level, and any other worker’s entitlements or

conditions, such as worker’s compensation in case of injury, or holiday pay, which many
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other workers in different parts of the world have the luxury of. However, in the Uzbekistan

Constitution, Chapter 9: Economic and Social Rights, Article 37 stipulates

‘Everyone shall have the same right to work, including the right to choose their

occupation. Every citizen will be entitled to fair conditions of labour and protection

against unemployment in accordance with procedure prescribed by law.

Any forced labour shall be prohibited, except as punishment under the sentence of

a court, or in some other instances specified by law.’

(http://www.gov.uz/en/constitution/)

This does not seem to be the case in this example, as it has become apparent through investigation,

most notably by the Environmental Justice Foundation and also by the UK’s BBC, that children have

been forcibly placed into working with these conditions.

Although it seems that there are more cons than there are pros regarding the child labour usage in

the Uzbek cotton industry, it must be noted that in the large network of stakeholders to the

industry, it would actually be more beneficial to a much more significant number of stakeholders if

the child labour is used, as suppliers, employees and consumers of large clothing manufacturers and

retailers in the global market greatly exceed the number of child labourers in Uzbekistan, and if

cotton exportation from Uzbekistan ceased, the livelihoods of many more people who work for the

large corporations would be at stake, through potential job losses, which could cause a loss in

income and would then create a snowball effect and possibly result in unpaid bills, etc.
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From a personal perspective while conducting this analysis, I perceive that in all instances that child

labour is unethical, as it exploits young individuals and coerces them into undertaking strenuous

work that is of little or no benefit to them either socially or economically.

3. Another way to analyse whether an action is ethical or unethical is through the use of the

Kantian analysis of the use of child labour. The Kantian approach to ethics was named after

its founder, Immanuel Kant and stated that ‘morality and decisions about right and wrong

were not dependent on a particular situation, let alone on the consequence of one’s action.

(Crane & Matten, 2010, p.105) Kant instead developed a three-part process to determine

whether an action was deemed moral. Only if the action ‘survived’ the process was it

deemed to be of moral integrity, with the three processes being those of consistency,

sustainment of human dignity, and universality. (Crane & Matten, 2010, p.105)

In the case of child labour in the third world country of Uzbekistan, it can be stated that it fails the

first test of consistency, as it would not be satisfactory for the utilisation of child labour by all

organisations in all countries around the globe. This would be seen as inconsistent, and therefore

the first maxim would be considered to be immoral on the grounds of inconsistency.

With regards to the second maxim, the sustainment of human dignity, this would also be considered

immoral, as it is seen as treating the labourers as a means for harvesting the cotton, and nothing

more. There are no attempts to allow the children to express their own needs, values and life goals,

nor are they able to make their own choices regarding their future directions. Therefore, this action

is recognised as being immoral, as their basic human dignity has been ignored.
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Maxim three is that of universality, which establishes whether every person would believe

that the notion of child labour is a theory that should be adhered to on a day-to-day basis.

As child labour is not deemed to be a universally accepted principle, it is therefore deemed

immoral on these grounds.

As child labour is considered immoral in maxim one, it therefore establishes that the entire notion is

immoral, and therefore an assessment on the grounds of maxim two is not required, however, to

demonstrate how this concept determines morality, all three maxims were assessed and it so

happens that child labour in this instance was deemed immoral in all three maxims, and therefore

establishes child labour as an immoral action and unethical practice and therefore should not be

adopted by an organisation and should be outlawed by governments.

4. After the full extent and major implications of child labour in the cotton industry in

Uzbekistan was brought to the forefront through the media, namely the broadcasting of a

documentary by the UK’s BBC, many clothing manufacturers and retailers who rely on the

cotton supplied by Uzbekistan for the construction of their garments, publicly stated that

they would be boycotting Uzbek cotton as a means of communicating their distaste for the

unethical use of child labour in the harvesting process.

However, it is stated that after the boycotts, many of these large organisations such as H&M,

Gap, Levi’s and Marks and Spencer did not see it was beneficial to them to remain active in

the quest for the complete outlawing of child labour practices in Uzbekistan and aiding in

completely eradicating the problem. It therefore appears that these organisations were only

willing to aid in the eradication of child labour so long as they were associated with the

purchasing of the cotton, and now that they are no longer purchasing cotton harvested by
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unethical child labour practices, there is no incentive in it for them to continue pursuing the

matter.

However, the boycotting by Western companies has not stopped the situation from

occurring. As stated in the case study, consumers may have a clear conscience about not

purchasing unethical cotton, however, this only worsens the cotton farmers’ economic

situation, as the problem does not disappear. ‘Neighbouring Turkmenistan and Tajikistan

also produce cotton and have less repressive regimes than Uzbekistan’, therefore making

these countries more attractive options for purchasing cotton. Removing their ethical

conscience with regards to the Uzbek cotton, these companies are no longer concerned with

the further implications of child labour practices.

Western companies have an obligation to help in the quest toward global equality and social

justice, with ‘80% of the world’s gross domestic product belonging to the 1 billion people

living in the developed world and the remaining 20% shared by the 5 billion people living in

developing countries’. (Crane & Matten, 2010, p.36) Eradication of poverty in developing

countries is only possible if it is a global effort that everyone is willing to partake in.

To conclude, child labour in the Republic of Uzbekistan is considered, after extensive

analysis, using both Act utilitarian and Kantian analysis has been determined as being

immoral and unethical in nature, and therefore not sustainable in practice. However, the

only way in which this practice can be eradicated is through extensive lobbying and political

pressure placed on the Uzbekistan Government by large Western multinational

corporations. Without this continual pressure, and with the Uzbekistan Government’s bad
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track record regarding corruption and human rights violations, this problem will never be

completely eradicated.

References

 Crane, A. & Matten, D. (2010). Business Ethics. New York, the United States: Oxford

University Press Inc.

 The Governmental Portal of the Republic of Uzbekistan (2011) Retrieved from

http://www.gov.uz/en/constitution/