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Lana Roelandts 220032777 MM322 Assignment 2
Lana Roelandts 220032777 MM322 Assignment 2
220032777
MM322 Assignment 2
MM322
ASSIGNMENT 2
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,
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2010, p.108). The Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan stipulates under Chapter 2:
‘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
(http://www.gov.uz/en/constitution/)
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
Everyone shall have the right to education. The state shall guarantee free secondary
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
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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
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-
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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
other workers in different parts of the world have the luxury of. However, in the Uzbekistan
‘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
Any forced labour shall be prohibited, except as punishment under the sentence of
(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
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.
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
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
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organisations in all countries around the globe. This would be seen as inconsistent, and therefore
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.
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 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
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
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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
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
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
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
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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.
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
corporations. Without this continual pressure, and with the Uzbekistan Government’s bad
track record regarding corruption and human rights violations, this problem will never be
completely eradicated.
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References
Crane, A. & Matten, D. (2010). Business Ethics. New York, the United States: Oxford
http://www.gov.uz/en/constitution/