New Delhi – The Burma Campaign United Kingdom (BCUK), an advocacy group lobbying for human rights and democracy in Burma, on Tuesday said they are initiating a boycott campaign against Cotton Traders, the UK's leading casual clothing brand.
The BCUK said it is launching a boycott against buying products of Cotton Traders as it has found that the company maintains production facilities in Burma, whose military rulers are said to abuse labor rights.
Despite appeals not to source clothing from Burma since exports help to fund the military junta, garment manufacturers often find the country appealing because of its cheap labor, ban on trade unions and lack of health and safety laws.
"Cotton Traders thinks it is acceptable to produce clothes in a country where factory wages are as low as 5p an hour and a factory employee working 60 hours a week could earn just £3," the BCUK said in its statement earlier this week.
"We will be contacting all our members shortly to notify them of the situation and to start a boycott," Johnny Chatterton, Campaign Officer for BCUK, told Mizzima of the BCUK's planned boycott.
Chatterton added they have requested Cotton Traders to reveal details of their business in military-ruled Burma and to respond to their request of quitting the country.
"We are disappointed that there has been no response at all from Cotton Traders," Chatterton said.
"Customers of Cotton Traders will be shocked to hear they are involved with this brutal dictatorship," Chatterton said in the BCUK's statement issued two days previously.
An official at the Cotton Traders, however, said that though she is aware of a few protests made against the company, she remains unaware of an organized campaign against the company.
Earlier in August, Chubb and XL Capitals, two of the world's leading insurance companies, in response to a BCUK campaign urging insurance companies not to invest in Burma, announced they will terminate all business associated with Burma.
Additionally, in September, Lloyd's of London was forced by the British government to write to all of its managing agents to reconsider their business links with the Burmese military junta.
According to the BCUK, more than 130 clothing companies, including M&S, Next, ASDA, H&M, Debenhams, House of Fraser and BHS, have enacted policies not to source from Burma.
