Uzbek Cotton: A New Spin on Child Labour in the Clothing Industry - Case Study Example

BUSINESS ETHICS: UZBEK COTTON - A NEW SPIN ON CHILD LABOUR IN THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY? By Location The ethical dilema The case is an ethical questioning of the use of Uzbekistan cotton where high street retailers and street clothing brands are cautious about using the country as one of their supply chains (LinkedIn Corporation, 2015). There are allegations that the cotton industry in Uzbekistan is exposing workers to poor working conditions, and the country has become the centre stage for forced child labour. However, child labour is the primary ethical concern surrounding the cotton industry since it is an inhumane act violating the fundamental rights of the minors. The case, therefore, offers an excellent opportunity to identify and examine some of the human rights issues in supply chain with focus on oppressive regimes as well as highlighting the extent to which organizations should practice corporate social responsibility as a way of ensuring the well-fare of the workers. Most retailers and cloth brands frequently have to deal with child labour issues where their supply chains violate the human rights codes of conduct and ethics. The revelations about Uzbekistan situation brought the attention of the human activists since the country was the second largest cotton exporter but was being accused of using forced child labour when harvesting the cotton. The BBC aired an expose on the country and revealed that children would leave studies and join the yearly harvesting of cotton and were also forced to comply (LinkedIn Corporation, 2015). The case brought ethical problems for major clothing brands as Uzbekistan was a supplier to many multinational clothing firms. The case also reveals that Uzbek is an oppressive regime characterized by limited media freedom, high levels of corrupt, limited democracy, and human rights violation. The country’s government is in the control of cotton production using the quota system. Therefore, the government adopts a system that also encourages forced state purchases. 1. Human Rights and Employee Rights - Ethics of Duties & Ethics of Rights and Justice There is always a common believe that human beings have duties obligating them to take care of others. On the other hand, these duties can be positive, as in the case of properly looking after a child or they can be negative as with the case of forced child labour. The duty of caring for other human beings is a universal term by the foundation of duties was developed by Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher who believed that people can rely on their power of reasoning to care for others (Broad, 2014). Central to the theory is that human beings should treat each other with dignity. In this case, human beings should not use each other as a tool for achieving something else. The case of Uzbekistan shows a government that fails to honour the dignity of children by failing to protect their rights and forcing them to labour in the cotton plantations. The ethical duty theory also suggests that buying products from workers whose employers pay low wages under poor working condition shows that the consumers are not fulfilling the duties they have to the workers (Broad, 2014). Therefore, the Uzbekistan case is putting many clothing brands in compromising situations because it is their duty to ensure that the workers at the cotton plantations are fairly paid for the work done and also not exposed to unfavourable conditions like forced labour. The moral duty may make the clothes brand to reconsider if their supply chain is also committed to fulfilling the moral duties. 2. John Ruggies framework for business and human rights of protect, respect, and remedy John Ruggie is the special UN representative who proposed the framework of business and human rights to the human rights council where his model relied on three pillars namely the state duty, corporate responsibility of protecting human rights and greater accessibility to the most effective remedy (Ruggie, 2008). According to the framework, the state has the duty of protecting its citizens against any form of human rights violations whether the abuse come from third parties like businesses o through policies, adjudication and regulation (The UN, 2010). Therefore, the framework recommends that the state is the major player in protecting human rights thus primarily responsible for preventing as well as addressing corporate human rights violations or abuses. The provision of the framework puts the Uzbekistan government responsible for protecting the corporate rights of the citizens especially children. Every constitution in the world has provisions for protecting the lives and welfare of children thus the government failed in upholding its corporate duty. The second pillar of the framework is corporate responsibility to respect the fundamental human rights thus avoiding infringing on the rights of people and addressing the harms that might occur amicably (Ruggie, 2008). In this case, companies bear the responsibility to respect, and this applies to all business activities including supply chain management. Uzbekistan situation is a case whereby the state and the industry have failed in upholding their responsibility of protecting children’s rights thus any company importing from them might decline to do business because the country is not embracing the corporate responsibility of respecting human rights. For instance, the boycotts by Marimeko and Krenholm companies are indications that businesses are committed to respecting human rights. Moreover, other strings of retailers joined the campaign against Uzbekistan cotton as a show of commitment to protecting fundamental human rights especially those of the children. The third pillar revolves around the accessibility to remedies in case of harm resulting from human rights violation or abuse (Ruggie, 2008). In this case, the state should make sure that there are appropriate mechanisms for addressing the human rights issues even it means providing the necessary legislative, administrative and judicial support. 3. Ethical issues related to the action of child labour The ethical issues surrounding child labour are complex given that children they are the only group in the society that can face legal discrimination. On the other hand, children are always judged as a group incapable of doing or running their affairs; thus they are left to adults who guide them through their life endeavours. Therefore, child labour is a major ethical concern given that children are not capable of giving informed consent (Davenport, & Low, 2012). Children engage in labour because their families may be in a desire need of money to survive because of poverty. However, the businesses and organizations employing children should consider the ethics behind using child labour since the age bracket is a disadvantaged group that still does not know issues like proper working conditions and also lacking technical expertise. Moreover, children are vulnerable to physical injuries, and this further violates their fundamental human rights. In the Uzbekistan scenario, ethics is at play as children are leaving classrooms to take part in the annual cotton harvesting. Manual harvesting of cotton exposes children to all sorts of physical injuries because, in most cases, they do not get the necessary protective gear against possible physical injuries. In this case, the child labour situation is even putting the life of children, and this is a serious ethical concern (Davenport, & Low, 2012). 4. The Utilitarian View of the industry and Kantian analysis of the use of child labour The basis of utilitarian ethical theory is that consequences of actions are predictable. According to the theory, a choice that has the greatest yields and benefits to a large group of people is the most ethical (Shafer-Landau, 2012). Therefore, the model offers a chance to compare predicted solutions and makes it possible to develop a system that helps in identifying the choices that are most beneficial to people. The utilitarian theoretical models can be used to assess the ethical responsibility and obligation in Uzbekistan. The government enforces policies that subject children to forced labour and also provides for poor working conditions for other industry workers. On the other hand, use of child labour in cotton harvesting is tampering with the child’s education and also exposing them to potential health risks. Therefore, according to utilitarian theory, the actions by both the government and the industry players has least benefits to the subjects, who are the children and workers, thus country is falling short of moral or ethically responsibility in respecting and protecting human rights. Kantian analysis can paint a clear picture of ethical issues surrounding the human rights violation when exposing children to forced labour (ONeill, 2013). The industry players including the government do not see into it that workers get good wages and children are not exploited as a labour force. Therefore, according to Kantian’ principle of categorical imperative, the government and the industry players should make laws as well as policies that focus on providing safe working conditions including good working conditions and also avoiding the inclusion of children as part of the workforce (ONeill, 2013). The government of Uzbekistan is the lawmaker but still goes on to enact laws that encourage forced labour and also poor working conditions to the normal workers. 5. Environmental Issues and the supply chain management Organizations form part of the complex supply chains that contain many suppliers and consumers, and this has a direct influence on how the companies operate. Customers set the standards that the organizations must meet though the suppliers also strive to provide materials that will result in efficiency in business operations. Therefore, environmental management and conservation have become some of the parameters that organizations look for when selecting their supply chains (Seuring, 2013). The implication is that company operations have direct impacts on the environment either in production or disposal of the resulting wastes. On the other hand, the modern consumer also prefers organizations that are committed to protecting the environment, a situation that requires proper selection of the supply chains (Wu, & Pagell, 2011). In this case, organizations new concepts like sustainable procurement where companies select supply chains whose products and services has minimum impacts on the environment. The Environmental Justice Foundation reported the state of environmental destruction from the Uzbekistan cotton factories, an issue that also led to the boycott by westerner importers citing that they cannot purchase a supplier with least environmental protection and conservation initiatives. 6. International Labour Organisation and Ethical Trading Initiative Base Code The International Labour Organization ILO through various conventions established the Ethical Trading Initiative Base Code that has become recognized as an international code governing labour practice (Ethical Trading Initiative, 2015). One of the provisions of the code is that individuals are free to choose any type of the employment they wish and shuns actions like forced labour. Besides, the code gives the workers freedom of association where individuals have the right to engage in any form of collective bargaining to improve their working conditions. As with the case of Uzbekistan cotton industry, there was a violation of this code since children are forced to labour, and government policies do not provide for the bargaining for the employment conditions. The fourth provision of the Code is that child labour should not be tolerated, or there should be no recruitment of children in industries or companies (Ethical Trading Initiative, 2015). Therefore, companies have the obligation to develop as well as participate in establishing policies that will help children to recover from forced labour. 7. Alternative actions by the western countries Boycotting Uzbekistans cotton industry was a way of discharging moral responsibility, but the country still continues to export the raw materials to other Asian countries and even getting good revenue from the practice. However, the situation in the country should be handled using amicable solutions that involve the international community coming up with strategies to deal with child labour. One of the possible strategies is the close engagement with the country’s government to ensure that the people law enforcement is effective and that companies support the initiatives set aside for ending child labour. Bibliography Broad, CD 2014, Five types of ethical theory, Routledge, London. Davenport, E, & Low, W 2012, ‘The labour behind the (Fair Trade) label’, Critical perspectives on international business, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 329-348. Ethical Trading Initiative 2015, ‘ETI Base Code’ Viewed from http://www.ethicaltrade.org/eti-base-code LinkedIn Corporation, 2015, Uzbek cotton: a new spin on child labour in the clothingindustry?, View from http://www.slideshare.net/LABASIF/real-assignment ONeill, O 2013, Acting on principle: An essay on Kantian ethics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Ruggie, J 2008, ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy: a Framework for Business and Human Rights,’ Viewed from http://www.reports-and-materials.org/sites/default/files/reports-and-materials/Ruggie-report-7-Apr-2008.pd Seuring, S 2013, ‘A review of modeling approaches for sustainable supply chain management’ Decision Support Systems, vol. 54, no. 4, pp. 1513-1520. Shafer-Landau, R. (Ed.) 2012, Ethical theory: an anthology (Vol. 13), John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken. The UN, September 2010, ‘The UN "Protect, Respect and Remedy" Framework for Business and Human Rights’, Viewed from http://198.170.85.29/Ruggie-protect-respect-remedy-framework.pdf Wu, Z., & Pagell, M 2011, ‘Balancing priorities: Decision-making in sustainable supply chain management;, Journal of Operations Management, vol. 29, no. 6, pp. 577-590. Read More