November 20 marks Universal Children’s Day. Established by the United Nations over 50 years ago, it is a day to encourage countries to initiate action to promote the welfare of children. This year Anti-Slavery International is calling upon the government of Uzbekistan to end the use of state-sponsored forced child labour to collect its annual cotton harvest...While many retailers, including Gap, Nike and Marks and Spencer have put in place a ban on Uzbek cotton because of the known use of child slavery in the cotton industry, others are still refusing to accept responsibility for Uzbek cotton entering their supply chain. In 2009, H&M and Zara [part of Inditex] were accused of selling clothes made with cotton from Uzbekistan following an investigation that linked Uzbek cotton to garments from both companies via Bangladeshi manufacturers.