CASE OVERVIEW
Background Information
In Uzbekistan the state has forced children and adults to harvest cotton during the harvesting season. KOMSCO, a Korean public enterprise, and POSCO International, a Korean trading company, founded subsidiary companies to purchase the cotton harvested by forced labor. The forced labor was not directly employed by these companies, but it was still a violation of their responsibilities under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Corporations and the UNGP to purchase such products.
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
OUR ACTION
KTNC Watch visited Uzbekistan in 2013 to gather information for a report on the realities of forced labor in the Uzbek cotton industry. KTNC Watch also testified during the parliamentary inspection of KOMSCO in 2013. In 2014 KTNC Watch submitted a complaint to the Korean NCP against KOMSCO, POSCO International, its investor the Government Pension Fund of Norway, and the Korean National Pension Service for violation of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Corporations. KTNC Watch also collected signatures on a petition demanding the corporations cease purchasing products containing cotton produced by forced labor. As a result of this advocacy improvements in the situation have been reported, and in particular a reduction in the number of cases of child labor.