Uzbekistan Will Allow International Monitors To Oversee Cotton Harvest

The Uzbekistan government will allow the International Labor Organization (ILO) to oversee the country’s cotton picking season in an effort to prevent state-sponsored child labor. The decision was made after increasing tensions between the Uzbek government and international organizations.

The fall cotton harvest means over a million Uzbek citizens – school-age children, nurses, teachers, doctors, college students – are ordered by the government to pick cotton bolls, the country’s primary export. Citizens who refuse to pick are expelled from schools, lose their jobs, fined over a year’s worth of salary, or even imprisoned.

Uzbekistan denies all allegations of organized child and forced labor, but according to the Human Rights Watch, consistent and credible reports from cotton workers, individual activists, and local rights groups proves otherwise. Workers as young as 9 years old are forced to prepare the harvest and meet cotton quotas set by regional and local authorities who report to the prime minister and other cabinet officials.

The Cotton Campaign, a coalition lobbying for improved standards in Uzbekistan’s cotton industry, wrote to ILO “we remain concerned that the ILO monitors will be accompanied by representatives of the Government of Uzbekistan and the official state union and employer’s organizations, whose presence will have a chilling effect on Uzbek citizens’ willingness to speak openly with the ILO monitors.”

According to HRW, “Uzbek authorities refused to allow international monitors into their country for the fourth year in a row, and arrested and intimidated local activists and independent journalists who attempted to report on the forced labor situation.”

Uzbekistan also previously ratified two ILO conventions aimed at stopping child labor, but human rights activists say Tashkent (Uzbekistan’s capital) still routinely ignores them. Activists are both incredulous and hopeful of Uzbekistan’s current compliance.

According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Uzbekistan is the 6th largest cotton producer and 2nd largest cotton exporter in the world. Uzbekistan currently aims to match last year’s cotton harvest; an estimated total of 3.35 million tons.

Creative Commons Love: Chris Shervey on Flickr.com

Written by Rachel Pozivenec