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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On October 18, at a meeting of the administration of the Shahrisabz district of the Kashkadarya region dedicated to the cotton campaign, a group of farmers was criticized for selling cucumbers at the local market instead of participating in the national plan to collect cotton. After the meeting, several farmers were sent to the district police station. It is reported that female farmers spent the night behind bars.
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The government of Uzbekistan forced people to work in the cotton fields during the spring fieldwork season under threat, the Uzbek-German Forum states in a report released today. The report also documents forced and child labor in a World Bank project area in Karakalpakstan.
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On September 27, 2017, activist Malokhat Eshonkulova visited cotton fields in the Dustlik district of the Djizak region where she spoke to cotton pickers. She learned that 1,100 collectors, mostly hired by employees of various tax offices of Tashkent city, as well as the city enterprise TransYol, had arrived in the Dustlik district. One of the workers said that she came to work for an employee of the tax inspection office of the Mirzo-Ulugbek district of Tashkent who had paid her 600,000 soums ($75) to pick cotton for one month.
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On September 27, 2017, activist Malokhat Eshonkulova visited cotton fields in the Dustlik district of the Djizak region where she spoke to cotton pickers. She learned that 1,100 collectors, mostly hired by employees of various tax offices of Tashkent city, as well as the city enterprise TransYol, had arrived in the Dustlik district. One of…
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A report received by the editorial office of Kun.uz says that the head of Qorgontepa District administration in Andijan Region, Avazbek Ergashev, is demanding that teachers of secondary schools recruit workers to pick cotton. Reports say that the head of the district administration is demanding that every teacher should bring one of the relatives of their pupils to pick cotton and is exerting pressure on teachers who fail to find fewer than five people to work on the cotton fields.
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A 57-year-old khokim of the Ulugnor district of the Andijan region of Uzbekistan, Asilbek Yusupov, died on October 6. According to several independent sources of the Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights (UGF) in the Andijan region, the hokim suffered verbal abuse during a meeting on the collection of cotton. Immediately afterwards he was taken to hospital.
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