The Solidarity Center is part of a coalition of concerned organizations working together with major brands, retailers, and industry associations to end state-sponsored child labor in Uzbekistan’s cotton fields.
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| Children as young as seven spend months of arduous labor in the cotton fields of Uzbekistan. Photo courtesy of ILRF |
Uzbekistan’s $1 billion cotton industry is a top employer. Up to one third of the country’s nearly 15-million-member workforce labors on cotton farms. Instead of using machines to harvest cotton, Uzbekistan’s government uses children. Every autumn, state officials shut down schools and send students, together with their teachers, to the cotton fields. Tens of thousands of children, some as young as seven, are forced to undertake weeks of arduous labor for little or no pay. In some areas, they are compelled to apply toxic pesticides without appropriate protective gear. They must meet daily cotton quotas, and those who fail or refuse to take part can face corporal punishment and expulsion from school. Consequences for parents who protest also can be severe: their social benefits may be revoked, they may be shamed at public meetings, or their utilities may be cut off.
Children are not the only victims of this blatant human rights violation. Uzbekistan’s cotton farmers officially receive only about a third of the revenues generated from its sale, and in practice, many get far less. Instead, Uzbekistan's cotton exports, which represent around 60 percent of the country’s export earnings (Uzbekistan is the second largest cotton exporter in the world), are appropriated by its totalitarian dictatorship. The vast majority of cotton farmers live in dire poverty, and independent union representation is almost nonexistent.
The Solidarity Center is part of a broad-based coalition of concerned organizations, led by the International Labor Rights Forum, that is pressuring the Uzbek government to put an end to these brutal practices. To highlight this issue in the global arena, the coalition convened a round-table, “Forced Labor and Child Labor in Central Asia: The Way Forward and the Role of the International Community.” Nearly 90 union, business, and government representatives attended the roundtable, which was held on June 11, 2009, during the International Labor Conference in Geneva. Participants discussed current conditions in the Central Asia region, the role of international businesses and trade unions, and international human rights perspectives, with a view to determining appropriate actions by the various stakeholders to end child labor in global cotton production.
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