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Activists Oppose “Business as Usual”; Picket Uzbek-US Forum
Twenty organizations today signed a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging the US government not to resume “business as usual” with Uzbekistan due to persistent and serious human rights problems such as torture and forced child labor.
The groups included human rights organizations Amnesty International USA, the Berlin-based European Center for [...]
Be Not Afraid of Growing Slowly, Just of Activists Seeing Your Agenda
Last week, the American-Uzbekistan Chamber of Commerce boasted on its website that it was upgrading its annual American-Uzbek Business Forum in light of positive developments in bilateral relations:
Due to the positive developments during the recent Annual Bilateral Consultations between the Governments of the United States of America and the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Uzbek Government [...]
Activists to Picket AmChan Meeting in DC; Uzbek Foreign Minister, US DAS to Speak
Plans are proceeding apace for a picket of a business meeting of the American Uzbekistan Chamber of Commerce (AUCC) this week.
On Wednesday, September 28 at noon at the W Hotel in Washington, DC, a number of human rights and labor groups plan to protest the use of child forced labour in the cotton industry as [...]
Uzbek Children Told to Buy Their Way Out of Cotton Harvest
The independent news site uznews.net reports that children are being offered a way to buy themselves out of the cotton harvest.
In the Yukkorichirchick district of Tashkent region, the authorities have informed parents that their young children will be excused from cotton harvesting duties if parents hand over payment of 20,000 soums (around US$8.00).
“People in my [...]
Picket US-Uzbekistan Business Forum September 28
Buoyed by the success of the picket to protest inclusion of Gulnara Karimova in New York’s Fashion Week, the International Labor Rights Forum is planning a picket next week in Washington, DC as Uzbekistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Elyor Ganiev arrives for meetings with the business elite in the capital.
The Central Asian nation [...]
Uzbek Activists Detained Photographing Child Cotton Pickers
Two Uzbek rights activists say they were detained by police for taking pictures of schoolchildren picking cotton in the southern Kashkadarya region, RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service reports.
Gulshan Karayeva and Nodor Ahatov, members of an unregistered Uzbekistan’s Human Rights society, were held by local authorities for 10 hours on September 15 while taking the photos.
“We saw the [...]
GooGoosha’s Fashion Show Fizzles As Protestors Converge on Cipriani
Fashion scenesters in Manhattan today were suddenly confronted with an issue half a world away in Uzbekistan — forced child labor in Tashkent’s billion-dollar cotton industry.
Driven from Lincoln Center — the main stage for New York’s Fashion Week — the Uzbek dictator’s daughter Gulnara Karimova moved her runway to Cipriani, a prestigious midtown events space, [...]
Plea for Help from Uzbek Med Students Forced to Pick Cotton
Radio Ozodlik, the Uzbek Service of Radio Europe/Radio Liberty, has received an urgent plea from students forced to pick cotton in Uzbekistan.
A student at the Faculty of Pediatrics at the Andijan Medical Institute, who gave only his first name, Abdumalilik, writes:
We need help, we are being tormented by fascistic methods. We are taken out to [...]
Sign Our Petitions to Get the Stores Where You Shop to Help Stop Forced Child Labour
Have you been reading all the news about the Uzbek dictator’s daughter and how labour and human rights campaigners were able to convince the organizers of Fashion Week to cancel Gulnara Karimova’s fashion show?
This seemed like an impossibility at one time, as Karimova was here last year and backed by powerful Fashion Week sponsor Mercedes [...]
Labour Rights Activists Call on Cipriani to Cancel Karimova Fashion Show
Uzbek dictator’s daughter Gulnara Karimova had her show cancelled by alarmed organizers of Fashion Week in New York, the New York Post reported yesterday.
But she’s not giving up and has been searching for a new venue. According to the New York Post, she has contracted with Cipriani, an upscale restaurant and event space in [...]
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Download 2010 SOAS Report What Has Changed
The production and export of cotton continues to be a major feature of the economy, politics and everyday lives of the people of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. This report analyses the nature and causes of their use of child labour in the cotton sector.