There is no systematic use of child labour in the cotton harvest in Uzbekistan and significant measures to end forced labour are being implemented.

The annual cotton harvest in Uzbekistan is a unique large-scale effort. In 2017, an estimated 2.6 million people were recruited to pick cotton during a period starting in September and stretching out to early November. Most cotton pickers were recruited voluntarily, with the added encouragement of raised wages. A certain number pick cotton during at least some part of the harvest as a result of persuasion, pressure or coercion.

For five years now, the Government and social partners – employers and trade unions as well as civil society representatives – of Uzbekistan have been engaged in implementing policies with the aim of ensuring that all recruitment and cotton picking is voluntary. This process has significantly been intensified due to high-level attention paid to the issue, improved governance, measures to enforce voluntary recruitment and increased transparency and national and international dialogue and cooperation.

Over this period, the International Labour Office (ILO) has concluded that the systematic use of child labour in Uzbekistan’s cotton harvest has come to an end. This is based on observations made through monitoring of the harvest and various forms of technical cooperation since 2013. Today, there is clear political commitment at central level to completely end the use of forced labour. In 2017, this commitment has been expressed at the highest political level and concrete measures are being implemented.

The most authoritative signal of change was given by the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, in his speech at the General Assembly of the United Nations in September 2017, and by the subsequent measures taken nationally to implement a policy of voluntary recruitment for the cotton harvest.

Third-party monitoring of measures against child labour and forced labour during the 2017 cotton harvest in Uzbekistan, ILO, 2018 DOWNLOAD

post

page

attachment

revision

nav_menu_item

custom_css

customize_changeset

oembed_cache

user_request

wp_block

acf-field-group

acf-field

ai1ec_event

Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner Annual Report 2020-2021
GuidanceLegislationPublications

In March 2020 Delta 8.7 published an article which argued that the pandemic would impact on modern slavery in at least three ways: by heightening risks for those already exploited, increasing he risks of exploitation and disrupting response efforts....Read More

TAGS: Europe
Are child domestic workers worse off than their peers? Comparing children in domestic work, child marriage, and kinship care with biological children of household heads: Evidence from Zimbabwe
Publications

Child domestic work is a hidden form of child labour driven by poverty and social norms. However, little is known about the situations of child domestic workers. This study aims to describe and analyse gender-specific working conditions, health, and...Read More

Human rights impacts of Nordic investments in renewable energy developments in the Global South
Publications

The climate emergency poses a huge threat to human rights. In order to address the climate crisis, a transition to an economy respectful of the planet is urgently required. As part of this green transition, moving away from fossil energy sources, to...Read More

National Hotline 2017 Oklahoma State Report
Graphics & InfographicsPublications

The data in this report represents signals and cases from January 1, 2017 through December 31, 2017 and is accurate as of July 11, 2018. Cases of trafficking may be ongoing or new information may be revealed to the National Hotline over time. Conseq...Read More