XINJIANG – The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) has set up what it describes as an expert task force to investigate allegations of the use of forced labour in areas such as the Xinjiang region of China.
It comes after the BCI finally announced earlier this month that it was suspending activities in Xinjiang for the upcoming cotton season over persistent allegations of forced labour by Uyghur prisoners.
The task force has been charged with reviewing the relevant elements of the BCI’s Better Cotton Standard System, and with producing recommendations to improve its ability to identify, prevent, mitigate and remediate forced labour risks.
