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Grieve…and then give
Readers will forgive, I hope, the non cotton-related nature of this post. No one with even a passing interest in Central Asia could fail to be devastated by the Rwanda-like violence meted out against ethnic Uzbek citizens in southern Kyrgyzstan, by their own compatriots. Reports by newswires, by Fergana.ru, local human rights defenders, by international [...]
Gearing up for the International Day Against Child labor June 12
The International Labor Rights Forum is planning a May 25 conference in Washington D.C. to discuss the state of the struggle. Representatives from the AFL/CIO, from Coca Cola, and from the State Department’s office of Child Labor and Trafficking will present.
Given that the ILO’s latest report on child labor shows that reductions observed [...]
Spanish soccer and Uzbek cotton
For the money-hungry and ambitious, trading a bit of their status by associating with the Uzbek dictatorship in return for some hard cash may seem like a good deal (exhibit A: Sting). Exhibit B comes this week courtesy of the Spanish daily of record El Pais: Joan Laporta, president of the renowned Spanish soccer team [...]
Tell Sting: the Uzbek people want their money back
I could hardly believe this story that Eurasianet broke back in September of last year, about Sting’s plan to give a concert for the Uzbek elite at the behest of Gulnora Karimova, daughter of dictator Islam Karimov. Tickets for $1,000? Nice, in a country with a minimum monthly wage of less than $20, and from [...]
Stunning footage from the Uzbek-German Forum
Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights: 2009 cotton harvest
Beyond documentation of the youth and vulnerability of those exploited this past year, this footage shows so clearly what miserable work children are forced to do. You can hear in the audio the sounds of the pods and branches scratching their hands and tearing at their clothes.
UN Secretary General to Uzbekistan: stop forced child labor
Reuters and the New York Times are both reporting that the UN SG made a big push on human rights on his regional trip, with special emphasis on the issue in Uzbekistan. The Secretary General was also reportedly very moved by his flight over the Aral Sea, an ecological disaster directly traceable to the cotton [...]
Bald faced lies
It’s going to be hard for international organizations to claim that Uzbekistan is making any progress on the issue of forced child labor in agriculture when the government continues to bluntly, vociferously deny reality.
The Expert Working Group, a collection of young human rights activists in the country, participated in the 98th session of the UN [...]
Called to account, Uzbekistan pleads, “But we’re working with UNICEF!”
Tomorrow and Friday, the UN body that reviews states’ adherence to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, will consider Uzbekistan’s latest (third) regular report.
Previous reviews have highlighted the issue of forced child labor, and in fact this year’s list of questions that the committee submits to the government ahead of the review specifically [...]
Anti-Slavery International calls on H&M and Zara to cut out Uzbek cotton
See the group’s call to action here, and here.
World Bank in Uzbekistan: excusing child exploitation?
A modest proposal: if international organizations feel incapable of speaking out against Uzbekistan’s state-sponsored child exploitation (can’t damage that all-important mandate, can we?), at the very least they should be able to avoid promoting it. Can we agree?
Unfortunately this seems like too much to ask. The World Bank has decided to devote this year’s small [...]
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