Press Releases
July 16, 2024 — PRESS RELEASE: YESS Participating Mills List Live, Sumerra Partnership Will Enable YESS to Scale — Responsible Sourcing Network and Sumerra
YESS has just published a publicly-available list of yarn and fabric suppliers that are participating in its due diligence initiative. RSN has ambitious plans to grow the list of YESS Participating Mills globally. To accomplish this, RSN has partnered with audit management company Sumerra.
May 24, 2023 — PRESS RELEASE: Shahi Exports Becomes the First Indian Mill to Undergo a YESS Assessment — Responsible Sourcing Network and Shahi Exports
YESS conducted its first independent assessments in India at Shahi Exports’ knitting and spinning facilities.
March 16, 2023 — PRESS RELEASE: YESS Conducts Inaugural Due Diligence Assessments in Pakistan — Responsible Sourcing Network and ELEVATE, an LQRA company
Two yarn spinning mills in Pakistan underwent independent assessments of the YESS: Yarn Ethically & Sustainably Sourced Standards in collaboration with ELEVATE, an LQRA company, as part of its Global Trace Protocol (GTP) project.
September 14, 2022 — PRESS RELEASE: YESS Standard for Fabric Mills Cascades Due Diligence Throughout the Supply Chain — Responsible Sourcing Network
As part of its flagship initiative YESS: Yarn Ethically & Sustainably Sourced, Responsible Sourcing Network released its first YESS Standard for Fabric Mills: Weaving & Knitting Operations Only, as well as its 2.0 version of YESS Standard for Spinning Mills.
April 28, 2022 — PRESS RELEASE: YESS Pilot Project Shows Yarn and Fabric Manufacturers Ready to ‘Drive Change’ to End Modern Slavery — Responsible Sourcing Network
Responsible Sourcing Network today released the pilot findings of its flagship initiative, YESS: Yarn Ethically & Sustainably Sourced. The pilot project demonstrated that manufacturers can track all of their cotton through their systems from fabric back to cotton bale suppliers.
March 10, 2022— PRESS RELEASE: Cotton Campaign Ends its Call for a Global Boycott of Cotton from Uzbekistan — Responsible Sourcing Network
The Cotton Campaign today announced it ends its call for a global boycott of Uzbek cotton. The announcement comes as Uzbek Forum for Human Rights, a frontline partner of the Cotton Campaign, releases its report finding no central government-imposed forced labor in the 2021 harvest.
November 17, 2021— PRESS RELEASE: Responsible Sourcing Network Spins Off From As You Sow— Responsible Sourcing Network
12-year-old human rights program becomes an independent nonprofit to fight slave labor in value chains.
July 29, 2021— PRESS RELEASE: Industry and Academia Join Forces for Baseline Study on Cobalt Artisanal Mining in DRC— Responsible Sourcing Network
Responsible Sourcing Network, in partnership with the Department of Anthropology of University of British Columbia, released the Baseline Study of Artisanal and Small-Scale Cobalt Mining in the Republic Democratic of the Congo (DRC).
April 16, 2020— PRESS RELEASE: Brands Need Assurances on Forced Labor and Civil Society in Uzbekistan— Responsible Sourcing Network
The Cotton Campaign welcomes the challenge put forward by Uzbekistan’s Minister of Labor Khusanov to end the Uzbek Cotton Pledge and work collaboratively to “enter a new chapter of reform” and to promote employment opportunities for the people of Uzbekistan.
October 9, 2019— PRESS RELEASE: Global Lack of Reporting on Conflict Minerals and Cobalt Puts Investors at Risk— Responsible Sourcing Network
Today, Responsible Sourcing Network released its annual report, Mining the Disclosures 2019: An Investor Guide to Conflict Minerals and Cobalt Reporting in Year Six.
September 9, 2019— PRESS RELEASE: Gaspar Matalaev Free After Three Years of Unjust Imprisonment for Reporting on Forced Labor in Turkmenistan Cotton Fields— RSN, Cotton Campaign, Turkmen.news, Freedom United and ILRF
Gaspar Matalaev, a labor rights monitor from Turkmenistan, was released from prison on Sept. 6 after three years’ imprisonment in retaliation for his reporting on forced labor.
June 26, 2019— PRESS RELEASE: A Roadmap of Reforms to End State-Sponsored Forced Labor in Uzbekistan— Responsible Sourcing Network and the Cotton Campaign
The Roadmap is informed by wide-ranging consultations both among our partners and our dialogue with the Government of Uzbekistan over the last year. Its purpose is to support the historic process of reform that is underway to eliminate and prevent forced labor in Uzbekistan’s cotton sector.
May 23, 2019— PRESS RELEASE: Civil Society, Global Brands, and Responsible Investors Demand Change in Turkmenistan—Responsible Sourcing Network, Cotton Campaign, and Turkmen.news
66 brands have taken a stand against the Turkmenistan government by signing the Turkmen Cotton Pledge and refusing to source cotton from Turkmenistan, and 80 investors with more than $722 billion assets under management have signed an investor statement. The investors state that it is critical for companies and industry associations to do their part to stop Turkmen cotton from entering their supply chains.
March 20, 2019 — PRESS RELEASE: YESS Eliminates Modern Slavery from Upstream Supply Chain — Responsible Sourcing Network
“After years of engaging brands on the issue of forced labor in the cotton sector, it was clear to me that a robust industry-wide initiative was needed to identify and address the harm of forced labor in the upstream cotton supply chain,” Patricia Jurewicz, vice president of the Responsible Sourcing Network and motivating force behind the YESS initiative, said.
October 18, 2018 – PRESS RELEASE: More Regulatory Enforcement Needed to Urge Corporate Due Diligence on Conflict Minerals – Responsible Sourcing Network
“The disregard of corporate responsibility for conflict minerals during the Trump administration is concerning,” said Raphaël Deberdt, author of the Mining the Disclosures 2018 report. “The increasing neglect of the conflict minerals legislation from some companies over the past few years has been a source of human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And these abuses extend beyond the 3TG sphere.” – Patricia Jurewicz, Director, Responsible Sourcing Network
October 1, 2018 PRESS RELEASE: Top Apparel Brands Call for End to Forced Labor in Cotton Fields of Turkmenistan
“While the Turkmen president, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, attends the UN General Assembly for the first time since 2015, apparel companies and global investors are expressing their disapproval of the use of state-sponsored forced labor in Turkmenistan’s cotton sector and call for change.”
May 23, 2018 – PRESS RELEASE: U.S. Customs Halts Imports of Forced Labor Cotton and Cotton Goods from Turkmenistan
CBP’s ban means retailers and brands need to move quickly to identify and eliminate Turkmen cotton from their supply chains
October 12, 2017 – PRESS RELEASE: Newest Mining the Disclosures 2017 Report Released by Responsible Sourcing Network Shows Widespread Due Diligence Shortfalls from Consumer Brands – Responsible Sourcing Network
“We’re disappointed to see so many companies simply ticking a compliance box, rather than engaging in genuine risk reduction. Investors should be concerned when nominal attention is paid to a critical issue – other corporate core business efforts could be just as weak. Laggard companies should emulate proactive due diligence strategies from the Technology sector.” – Patricia Jurewicz, Director, Responsible Sourcing Network
March 07, 2017 – PRESS RELEASE: Investors Urge the US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and Administration to Continue Robust Implementation of Dodd-Frank (Section 1502) Conflict Minerals Rule – Responsible Sourcing Network
"Mandatory disclosure legislation is imperative to maintain. It has been the driving force for the momentum and action by corporations to research their supply chains, be transparent about their actions, and be responsible to the communities that deserve to prosper from the electronics craze sweeping across the world." – Patricia Jurewicz, Director, Responsible Sourcing Network
September 1, 2016 – PRESS RELEASE: YESS: Yarn Ethically & Sustainably Sourced
"Although many of our corporate Cotton Pledge signatories know that this is a vulnerable spot in their supply chains, they haven’t known how to address the problem."