The cost of cotton: no future

Posted on December 8, 2009 by admin | No Comments

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports that Uzbek college students are regularly being expelled for refusing to pick cotton.
With that kind of a black mark in their past, any expelled student has little chance of ever completing higher education at home, which leaves the most likely option for survival in a country with mass un- and [...]

Expelled for being sickened by cotton

Posted on November 9, 2009 by admin | No Comments

It’s worth reading through the entire (slightly redacted) message below from the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, just to get a sense of the Orwellian humiliations people in Uzbekistan must endure during their annual “cotton campaign.”   This student was lucky enough to get reinstated in her institute, from which she was expelled for having [...]

Bukhara U. dean to students: pick cotton or be expelled

Posted on October 16, 2009 by admin | No Comments

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 [...]

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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.

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