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Better Cotton Initiative’s fall a cautionary tale of trying to be all things to all people
- The Better Cotton Initiative has gone to ground after coming under fire from China and the West for its mixed messages on forced labour in Xinjiang
- BCI ‘got pushed into a situation where they were looking to be the turnkey solution for everybody involved, and they weren’t ever set up to be that’, cotton industry expert Eddie Jernigan says
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International pressure against China over its Xinjiang policies has gained traction in recent months, with China criticised over the treatment of Uygur Muslims in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. China has denied allegations of forced labour and detention. We look at the issues in this series.
Faced with a barrage of vitriol over its position on Xinjiang, the Better Cotton Initiative – an organisation that prides itself on “creating transparency” – has gone to ground.
Calls to BCI’s Geneva headquarters have gone unanswered over the past fortnight, spokespeople have stopped responding to emails, its Twitter account has been set to private, and at one point last week, its website was offline.
Its fall from grace has been dramatic and is being studied by industry groups, accrediting bodies, auditors, consultants and academics of what happens when you try to please both China and the West, but end up high and dry.
In the West, BCI is accused of kowtowing to a state-orchestrated denial of alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang, after wiping its websites of statements on forced labour.
Its earlier comments, meanwhile, have landed it in hot water in China. The public and state media are demanding that BCI substantiate allegations of forced labour in Xinjiang, where the organisation had been certifying and marketing cotton since 2012.
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