Rivers joins push for end of child labour Transparency: Rivers Australia is the 140th company to sign an international pledge against forced child labour. Rivers Australia has promised to stamp out child labour in its supply chains, joining an increasing number of Australian retailers that are pledging full transparency on where they source their clothing from. In a statement on its website, Rivers Australia said it would stop using cotton from Uzbekistan in its clothing until the state-sponsored child labour had been eradicated. The company will also request its suppliers disclose the origin of the cotton used in all products. Rivers Australia is the 140th company to sign an international pledge against forced child labour, recently signed by other Australian retailers Target, Just Jeans and Kathmandu. A damning report on the Australian fashion industry in August showed 93 per cent of brands did not know where their cotton was sourced from, making it likely child labour and exploitation had been involved. Uzbekistan is the fourth largest cotton producer in the world, where children as young as 10 are taken out of school and coerced to work in the cotton fields. The global garment trade has come under intense scrutiny this year following the collapse in April of Rana Plaza, a nine-storey, illegally-built garment sweatshop in Dhaka, Bangladesh, that was making clothes for the US and Europe. More than 1127 people died in the collapse, with some 2500 injured. Until now, Rivers has been silent on its supply chain operations, including how many Bangladeshi factories it sources its clothes from.