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UNICEF Quietly Mentions — but Doesn’t Condemn — Forced Child Labour
You have to dig to the last page of a specialized newsletter — but it’s there — the new UNICEF-Uzbekistan Newsletter contains a single paragraph at the bottom of the final page of the newsletter on forced child labour:
During the period of 17 to 22 September 2011, 6 teams consisting of 14 [...]
UNICEF Confirms Uzbek Government Invitation to Observe Child Labour
UNICEF representatives have been officially invited to Uzbekistan to conduct monitoring of reports of the use of child labor, Radio Ozodlik reported.
Jean-Michel Delmotte, the representative of UNICEF in Tashkent, confirmed that the proposal had come from the government of Uzbekistan, the Russian news agency Regnum reported. Delmotte said that the Uzbek authorities promised [...]
US Embassy, UNICEF Minimized Forced Child Labour, Argued Against Boycott
The new WikiLeaks dump of alleged diplomatic cables contains numerous dispatches from Tashkent with troubling new revelations about the downplaying of the issue of forced child labour in the cotton industry in Uzbekistan by both the US Embassy and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), apparently driven by the need to keep good relations with Uzbekistan.
The [...]
Uzbekistan Remains on US Watch List for Child Labor
The US State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons has released its annual report titled Global Trafficking in Persons (G-TIP).
Uzbekistan is included in G-TIP as in past years, and remains on the Tier 2 Watch List due to failure to eliminate the state-sponsored practice of forced child labor in the cotton industry. [...]
ILO Examines Experts’ Report on Uzbekistan: Background
The member states of the International Labour Organisation ILO meet at the International Labour Conference (ILC), held every year in Geneva, Switzerland, in the month of June. The ILC examines reports from the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations on various country situations and issues.
Each member State is represented by a [...]
US G-TIP Policy on Uzbekistan Sparks Conservative Critique
The Jamestown Foundation Eurasia Daily Monitor has published a disturbing two-part article by Umida Hashimova, “US Repeats Policy Mistakes in Uzbekistan,” on the issue of forced child labor in Uzbekistan. The author, originally from Uzbekistan herself, claims the issue of child labor in her homeland is misrepresented and exaggerated, and implies that those who take [...]
UNICEF Official Describes “Limited Success” in Curbing Child Labor in Uzbekistan
A recent panel discussion at the Open Society Institute highlighted the ongoing problem of forced child labor in Uzbekistan and the efforts of non-governmental groups to enlist governments and international institutions in the cause of persuading Uzbekistan to end the practice. (EurasiaNet is funded by the Open Society Foundations under the auspices of its Central [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
The UN Child’s Rights Convention is 20 years old (and Uzbek children are still out picking cotton)
It’s a trite formula for a story: note an anniversary of a worthy treaty/announcement/international agreement, then express regret that in spite of some laudable progress, look how far there is yet to go, throwing in a tear-jerking example or two. This past week, the 20th anniversary of the signing of the UN Convention on the [...]
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REPORTS
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.