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Uzbek Farmer Commits Suicide After Failing to Meet State Quota
On September 14, a funeral was held for a farmer from Murzrabot district in the Surkhandarya region, who committed suicide, the Uzbek Service of the BBC reported.
According to accounts from other farmers and villagers, Ismail Turanazarov, age 50, had been reprimanded at a meeting in Murzrabot about the cotton harvest by the head of [...]
Students Go to Fields Along with Teachers
Not long after teachers were forced to go to the cotton fields in Uzbekistan to help bring in the harvest, their pupils from middle schools followed them.
The BBC Uzbek Service has received reports that children in the 6th grade who are 12 years of age have been forced to work in large numbers in the [...]
Uzbekistan Holds Cotton Fair Despite Ongoing Boycott
Uzbekistan has opened its seventh International Cotton and Textile Fair in Tashkent with some 330 companies from 38 countries sending representatives, even as others boycott the event, RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service reported.
The event’s website said that the “primary goal of such an endeavor is to further expand long-term cooperation with international organizations [...]
School-Children Forced to Pick Cotton in Andijan Region; Potemkin Fields for President
Authorities have begun to mobilize school-children in Andijan province for the cotton harvest, the Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights reports.
Starting October 6, children from Uzbekistan’s most densely-populated province of Andijan were taken to pick cotton. Earlier, local administrators (the khokimiyat) had stated that this year, they would not force middle-school children to take part [...]
EU Parliamentarians Reject Textile Deal With Uzbekistan
European Union parliamentarians have rejected a trade deal that would have eased Uzbekistan’s export of textiles to Europe, citing the use of forced child labor in Uzbekistan’s cotton industry, Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe reported.
The Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament voted unanimously against the inclusion of textiles in the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA), [...]
Uzbek Monitor Reports from the Cotton Fields: “Everyone to the Harvest”
A monitor working with the Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights sent an account of his recent drive across Uzbekistan through the provinces, risking arrest to take pictures of school-children working in the cotton fields. He describes the empty marketplaces, with everyone sent off to the cotton fields, the dusty, bumpy roads, the children laboring in [...]
Anti-Slavery International Relaunches Cotton Crimes Campaign
As part of its Cotton Crimes campaign, the London-based Anti-Slavery International has produced a powerful video clip to capture the insidious link between consumption of goods in affluent countries and the forced child labour that produces them in countries like Uzbekistan.
Take a look at the video on Anti-Slavery’s website, leave a comment on their Facebook [...]
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REPORTS
Download 2012 CEGG Report Forced Child Labour in Uzbekistan
The state-controlled forced labor system of cotton production in Uzbekistan continues to violate the human rights of Uzbek children and adults in order to support the central government with revenues from cotton exports. This report identifies alarming trends of the most recent harvests, including the increased tendencies of civil servants forced to pick cotton and children forced to work the most difficult and dangerous end of the harvest. The report calls for an ILO monitoring mission and action from the governments of the European Union and the U.S., the World Bank, and the private sector to stop forced labor in the cotton sector of Uzbekistan.