Children still harvest Uzbek cotton – Anti-slavery Intl

“The 2012 cotton harvest was also characterized by unprecedented levels of corruption,” said Umida Niyazova, Director, Uzbek German Forum for Human Rights. Government authorities extorted payments from parents who attempted to protect their children, adults who could not meet their quotas, and local businessmen under threat of tax penalties. Unprecedented numbers of adults sent to pick cotton did not receive any payment for the cotton they picked.

“What does it take for companies to take action to ensure that they are not complicit in the forced labor in Uzbekistan?” asked Dr. Mark Zirnsak, Uniting Church in Australia. The report highlights the human rights due diligence responsibilities of companies to prevent complicity in the Uzbek forced labor system, by eliminating Uzbek cotton from supply chains and, if operating in Uzbekistan, establishing independent monitoring and public reporting.

“This report is another message to governments to account for human rights in their economic and diplomatic relations with Uzbekistan,” said Dr. Miriam Saage-Maasz, Business & Human Rights Program Director, European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights. “Under what justification does the government of Uzbekistan merit continued preferential trade treatment while demonstrating no commitment to end the practice of forced labor?”

The Cotton Campaign is the global coalition of worker, employer, investor and human rights organizations coalesced to build political will in the government of Uzbekistan to end forced labor of adults and children in its cotton sector. The Uzbek – German Forum for Human Rights (UGF) is a German based NGO aimed at improving the human rights situation in Uzbekistan and strengthening and promoting civil society, and a participant in the Cotton Campaign.

Anti-slavery International