• 45-50% of the cotton is harvested by children;
• Though the government announced the harvest completed in early November, many children are still being forced to work in the fields picking the last remnants;
• Officials are withholding 60% of already miserly wages from the children for the “rent” of their schoolbooks–so instead of 5 US cents per kilogram picked, they may get 2.  For high school and college students who are forced to board near the fields or in them, the percent withheld is even higher to cover the cost of their food (more on this later);
• Children down to the third grade have been mobilized (those are 8 and 9 year olds);
• Teachers and other officials encountered by the researchers are taking more pains to try to convince observers that the process is “voluntary,” perhaps indicating a greater degree of surveillance and official pressure than in years past.

Dean Raupov cites the President; photo: Fergana.ru

Expulsion is a real threat for students at Bukhara State University, according to the dean of the Humanities faculty, S. S. Raupov, if they don’t immediately report to the cotton fields.  Those with a “documented excuse” are ordered to report to the University daily and are forced to clean the classrooms or do yardwork on campus, as reported by Fergana.ru.

Many of these students may be over the age of 18, but some are not.  Regardless, forced labor is a serious rights violation, and a crime.

The willingness of the dean to put this in writing is remarkable, as is his citation of a Presidential decree (of August 20, 2008) “On the organization and the conduct of the cotton harvest campaign” as the legal basis for his order.