News

KNPRK: Unions Under Pressure. The Appellate Instance Upheld the Court Decision

On September 29, 2017, the appellate instance of the Regional Court of Shymkent upheld the decision of the Yenbekshinskiy District Court of the Town of Shymkent. It will be recalled that on July 25, 2017, Judge Svetlana Shinaliyeva of the Yenbekshinskiy District Court of the Town of Shymkent returned a guilty verdict to the KNPRK President Larisa Kharkova, sentencing her to four years of restricted freedom of movement, one hundred hours of community service, and a 5-year ban from holding leadership positions in non-governmental associations and other non-commercial organisations. The sentence also prohibits Kharkova from changing her place of residence and her place of work, visiting certain places, and leaving town without permission from competent bodies.

13yo girl who had to collect boxes at bazaar in Osh to provide family nominated for International Children’s Peace Prize

Aychurek Sulaimanova, a 13-year-old girl from Osh who was forced to collect boxes at a bazaar for a living and to provide her family, was nominated for The International Children’s Peace Prize founded by the KidsRights Foundation, the Center for Protection of Children said.

Uzbekistan’s new leader fails his first test

One year after the death of Islam Karimov, the continued use of forced labour in Uzbekistan’s cotton fields shows how slow the pace of change really is.

Uzbekistan: school directors speak out about regular physical abuse by local government official

A video shot in secret and posted online shows a district official in Uzbekistan beating and humiliating several principals of local schools. The district chief was reportedly punishing the principals for their failure to send teachers to an Independence Day celebration in late August. (Current Time TV)

Uzbekistan Reducing Cotton Fields But Forced Labor Remains

Uzbekistan is cutting back on its cotton cultivation to make way for fruit and vegetable fields. While that happens, however, the custom of forcing state workers to pick cotton is proving hard to abandon.

Turkmenistan kicks off mobilization of civil servants for cotton season

Reports from the Turkmen regions of Mary and Lebap said that the authorities have started summoning civil servants for the cotton picking season since August 15. The roll call started with middle school support staff, janitors and guards, while teachers are likely to be called up from the start of the school year. Their participation will be discussed at the upcoming teachers’ meetings ahead of September 1st.

Conviction of trade union leaders: “Another nail in the coffin of the independent trade union movement in Kazakhstan”

The global trade union movement is calling on the government of Kazakhstan to review the conviction of a prominent labour leader in a case that has been described as a “blatant violation of human and trade union rights in Kazakhstan.”

Justice for Larisa Kharkova, Nurbek Kushakbaev and Amin Eleusinov

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has written to the President of Kazakhstan and the EU’s Foreign Affairs Representative demanding justice for Larisa Kharkova, a leader of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Kazakhstan, who was sentenced in late July to 100 hours of forced labour, four years restriction on her freedom of movement and a five-year ban on holding any position in a public or non-governmental organization.

IndustriALL condemns mock trials of union activists in Kazakhstan

IndustriALL addressed to the leadership of Kazakhstan demanding to influence the situation and review the unjustified court sentencing of Larisa Kharkova, Nurbek Kushakbayev and Amin Yeleusinov.

A Peek Behind the World Bank’s Mask

On June 27 we released a joint report documenting forced and child labor linked to the World Bank’s agriculture projects in Uzbekistan. We hoped it would cause bank officials to rethink their approach. But then the bank’s country team inadvertently left an internal conversation on our voicemail. Oops! It revealed their ultimate goal: to protect the bank from external pressure and get new agriculture projects through their executive board “unscathed,” as one of the voices on the phone said. He went on: “We want to avoid any more stuff that goes out that says ‘oh and look [a board member is] really taking this seriously, now they’re going to call for a full board hearing.”