The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) has come under fire over its role in the Xinjiang region of China, amidst fears its ‘better cotton’ has been tarnished by the use of forced labour, but it says lessons have been learned.
Brand after brand have distanced themselves from Xinjiang while the US has moved to block imports from the region over fears that Uyghur people, detained in what is said to be the largest mass incarceration since the holocaust, are being forced to work in the cotton industry.
But the BCI has seemed slow out of the blocks. Earlier this year, it suspended its activities in the region and appointed an independent task force to review its policies on ‘decent work’ but it remained active in Xinjiang until October.
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