Dear friends,
Each year in Uzbekistan, more than one million citizens are forced to harvest cotton in abusive conditions. Workers live in the fields for weeks at a time, in filthy conditions, without access to safe drinking water, falling ill and often not even receiving pay. This Thursday the European Parliament (EP) is voting on whether to adopt an agreement that would allow Uzbek cotton to reach European markets. If this deal were to go through it would only further fuel forced labour and rights violations.
We need YOUR HELP to put as much pressure as possible ahead of Thursday's vote and urge the European Parliaments International Trade Committee to do the right thing and REJECT the deal.
Share our #CottonCrimes campaign page at hrw.org/CottonCrimes or click on the ACT NOW button below to tweet the Trade Committee directly.
Thank you for your support,
Steve Swerdlow Central Asia Researcher/Acting Director, Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) Office Human Rights Watch Europe and Central Asia division
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