Tajikistan’s human rights record worsened further in 2017, as authorities deepened a severe, widespread crackdown on free expression and association, peaceful political opposition activity, the independent legal profession, and the independent exercise of religious faith.
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French TV airs two-hour documentary about the Uzbek cotton industry On November 28, the French TV channel France 2, broadcast a two-hour documentary about international business dealings in the cotton industry, including insights into the dysfunctional Uzbek cotton sector. The French journalist, Sandrine Rigaud, travelled to Uzbekistan, Bangladesh and India to investigate the dark side of the…
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ADC “Memorial” welcomes the adoption of important UN documents on the rights of migrant children, which include two Joint General Comments of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (CMW) – “On the general principles regarding the human rights of children in the context of international migration” and “On State obligations regarding the human rights of children in the context of international migration in countries of origin, transit, destination and return”.
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SHAKHTINSK, Kazakhstan — A strike by coal miners in north-central Kazakhstan has spread to more mines as hundreds of workers are refusing to return to the surface, demanding higher salaries and better benefits.
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Malokhat is being targeted for her work monitoring forced and child labor in Uzbekistan’s government-run cotton harvest
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The head of the Parkent district administration of the Tashkent region, Nematulla Abdullaev, held a 45-minute meeting on November 1, 2017, during which he used abusive and insulting language to humiliate and intimidate the heads of organizations, enterprises, and community leaders for not sending enough people to pick cotton and meet quotas. An audiotape of this meeting was given to Radio Ozodlik (the Uzbek service of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty) by the head of an organization who took part in the meeting
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In Turkmenistan, despite a ban on child labor, there are more children and teenagers in the cotton fields for this year’s cotton harvest campaign than in previous years. In addition, for the first time for many years the authorities in several regions of Turkmenistan have orchestrated the mass mobilization of children to pick cotton.
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Bettina Sengling, a German journalist, has been following Uzbekistan’s most prominent human rights activists. In a recent article, published by the German magazine STERN, she reports on forced and child labor in Uzbekistan’s cotton industry and the challenges faced by human rights activists in their courageous fight to end these practices.
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A member of staff from Andijan Region’s Agriculture and Water Resources Department, who was brought to Syrdarya to pick cotton on 20 September, and who requested to remain anonymous, has complained to OzodMikrofon (Free Microphone) that he has been picking cotton for almost two months in difficult conditions and that the leadership has no plans to replace him or send him back home.
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On November 3, 2017, human rights activist Elena Urlayeva visited cotton fields in the Balikchi district (Andijan region) and saw children at the age of 11-12 picking cotton.
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