Thread by @BethanyAllenEbr

Last year, the Better Cotton Initiative stated it was pulling out of Xinjiang b/c it could no longer operate ethically there.

Now, after sustained criticism in China, that statement has disappeared from BCI's website.

BCI's response to me? No comment.

axios.com/xinjiang-cotto…

Here's a screenshot of the statement that no longer exists on their website:

Here is the original link to the statement. If you click on it now, it shows an error.

bettercotton.org/bci-to-cease-a…

"We will not be providing input on this at the moment," BCI spokesperson Joe Woodruff told me in an email.

When I sent him a follow-up email asking if BCI believed there was forced labor in Xinjiang cotton, and if BCI would resume operations there, he did not reply.

For more background on the BCI's operations in Xinjiang, read my article from January.

Of note: Until Oct 2019, BCI had an XPCC affiliate as one of its official implementing partners.

XPCC now under US and EU sanctions for complicity in forced labor.

axios.com/global-textile…

Interesting detail: The BCI website states that USAID it one of its funding partners.

h/t @joemosch