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Blog

Forced labor in Uzbekistan

1/16/2015

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The following first appeared as a letter to the editor of the Washington Post on January 15, 2015, here.

The Jan. 11 Book World review of Sven Beckert’s “Empire of Cotton” [“Torments and benefits of cotton capitalism”] presented an impressive account of the history of state-supported violence in the cotton sector.

This tragic history continues today. The government of Uzbekistan forces millions of citizens to pick cotton, and it forces farmers to deliver production quotas, all under threat of punishment. The income from this state-orchestrated labor disappears into a secret fund, benefiting only a small cadre of government officials. Uzbekistan is the world’s fifth-largest cotton exporter. Buyers, especially commodity traders, disregard their complicity in forced labor.

While many retailers have pledged to avoid Uzbek cotton, the clothes we wear remain tainted with cotton from forced labor. In Uzbekistan, desperation feeds emigration, primarily to Russia, for work. Global pressure on the Uzbek government has reduced its use of child labor, yet the government continues systematic forced labor and jailing of citizens who document or report it.
Much more is needed before the people of Uzbekistan are free from state-forced labor and consumers can be confident the curse of violence in cotton is history.
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CONTACT: Cotton Campaign Coordinator - c/o International Labor Rights Forum, 1634 I Street NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20006. 
+1 202-347-4100, cottoncampaigncoordinator [at] gmail.com
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Uzbekistan's Forced Labor Problem >
      • Reports
      • Chronicle of Forced Labor
      • Photos/Video
      • FAQs
    • Turkmenistan's Forced Labor Problem >
      • Reports of Forced Labor in Turkmenistan's Cotton Sector
    • Forced Labor Cotton in Other Countries
    • Contact
  • Countries
    • Turkmenistan
    • Uzbekistan >
      • Uzbek Forum Key Findings 2020
    • Governments >
      • What other governments can do
    • International Organizations >
      • What the World Bank and Asian Development Bank can do
      • What the International Labor Organization can do
    • Companies >
      • What companies operating in Uzbekistan or Turkmenistan can do
      • What companies that use cotton can do
      • What investors can do
  • Take Action
  • Media
    • Press Releases >
      • Independent Union Faces Intimidation
      • Turkmenistan 2020 Harvest
      • A Changing Landscape in Uzbek Cotton Production
      • Bennett Freeman Remarks at ILO Roundtable
    • News
    • Videos
  • Blog