Cotton Harvest in Uzbekistan 2009:Week 7

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**** SCHOOL CHILDREN STILL IN THE FIELDS ****  NEW BILL BANNING CHILD LABOUR ****  NO MEDICAL CARE DURING COTTON HARVEST ****  CHILD LABOUR IN TAJIKISTAN : FORCED OR POVERTY DRIVEN? ****

Context: Forced Child labour is an endemic and widespread practice in Uzbekistan ’s cotton industry. According to some experts, between 1.5 and 2 million schoolchildren from ages 10-16 are forced to pick cotton each year, a practice that has been in place since the Stalin era.  Observers claim that forced child labor is orchestrated by the state which, in turn, denies responsibility.

To date, over 20 international retail, apparel, and trading companies, committed to Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethical and Fair Trade have stated their intention to discontinue the use of cotton produced by forced child labour in their supply chain. The Government of Uzbekistan responds that the campaign originated from its U.S. cotton-supplying competitors. Yet, in 2008 due to international pressure, Uzbekistan was forced to ratify International Labour Organization Conventions 138 and 182 – Minimum Age for Admission to Employment and Worst Forms of Child Labour, and, in September 2008, adopted a resolution that banned the use of child labour. Just a week after this resolution, children were sent to the cotton fields to work for one and a half months.

This weekly update chronicles the 2009 cotton harvest and monitors the extent to which the government of Uzbekistan is honouring its commitments and own laws.

These are reports about the use of forced and child labour and all related developments.

Week Seven

New law assigns liability to parents for child labor

Synopsis: On 3 November, the Uzbek Supreme Assembly’s Legislative Chamber [parliament’ s lower house] discussed a draft law “On amendments to the Uzbek Criminal Code on administrative responsibility. “

The bill was drawn up to carry out a national action plan for implementing International Labour Organization conventions  ratified by Uzbekistan – the Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour and the Convention concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment.

The bill will make individuals, including parents, responsible for exploiting children’s labor in working conditions that may endanger their health and safety. The bill also increases employers’ responsibility for violating the Labour Code and labour protection laws in respect of juveniles.

Taking into account the opinions expressed during the session, the Legislative Chamber adopted a resolution. It will be submitted to the parliament’s upper house for approval.

Source: UzReport.com, 11/04/09

Full version: http://passport. uzreport. com/vhod. cgi?lan=e&refd=news.uzreport. com&reff=uzb.cgi&refi=68575

… echoed by blogger: “No matter how many times you say the word ‘halva,’ it doesn’t get any sweeter in your mouth:” Hoja Nasreddin’s commentary on the new (no, really, NEW) Uzbek law against child labor

The hero of Sufi fables and humorous stories, Hoja Nasreddin embodies folk wisdom.  He would have appreciated the assiduous attempts by Uzbek bureaucrats to turn black into white, churning out another in a series of laws prohibiting child- and forced labor.  To date, Uzbekistan has signed and ratified the ILO conventions on forced- and child labor, passed laws “On Guarantees of the Rights of the Child,”  “On Youth,” amended the Labor Code, all of which explicitly prohibit child labor.  In September 2008, the government issued a Decree on Implementing UN Conventions on the minimum age for labor, after which it adopted an Action [inaction?] Plan on the implementation of the decree on implementation.  Whew!

And yet, here is another law on the same subject, according to the reporting of Uzmetronom.com.  The legislature on November 3 adopted the law “On amendments to the Administrative Code,” which also concerns the implementation of the Action [inaction] Plan on the implementation of the ILO Convention on the Prohibition and Immediate Measures to Eradicate the Worst Forms of Child Labor, and the Convention on the Minimum Age of Employment.

And what, you might ask, has been the result of all this lawmaking?  Hoja Nasreddin, are you listening?

”No matter how many times you say the word ‘halva’…”

Source: www.cottoncampaign. org, 11/06/09

Full version: http://www.cottonca mpaign.org/ 2009/11/06/ guest-blog- %E2%80%9Cno- matter-how- many-times- you-say-the- word-%E2% 80%98halva% E2%80%99- it-doesn% E2%80%99t- get-any-sweeter- in-your-mouth% E2%80%9D- hoja-nasreddin% E2%80%99s- commentary- on-the-new- no/

Cotton quota fulfilled, children still in the fields

Synopsis: Although the cotton season is over, in the areas where the state quota has not yet been met, children are still in the fields and it is unclear when they will return home, Radio Ozodlik reported. While the Uzbek government denies the use of child labor, children are still employed picking cotton.

Working conditions are poor, with unheated living quarters, no showers, lack of drinking water, or even beds — children are sleeping on the floor, human rights activists told BBC. “Children and everyone else are drinking water out of the trough and bathing in that same water,” says Bakhtier Khamroev of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan.

Each year more than a million children are sent to work in the fields in Uzbekistan as they have been since the Soviet era, says BBC.

Source:  BBC Uzbek Service/11/06/ 09.

Full version:  http://www.bbc. co.uk/uzbek/ news/story/ 2009/11/091106_ cotton_children. shtml

Rain, cold, but the students of Tashkent region continue to do backbreaking work in the cotton fields

Synopsis: As the authorities of Uzbekistan are celebrating the “triumph” of having completed the cotton season, and Islam Karimov has congratulated the cotton growers, students of Tashkent region, despite harsh weather conditions, continue to do backbreaking work in the cotton fields, adding to the gold reserves of the country. And yet, this is not in the financial interest of the children or those who work hard to gather the cotton. School administrations have still not yet received orders “from above” about  the end of the cotton campaign.

Correspondents of Ferghana.ru visited the cotton fields of Djambul village, in Tashkent region – about thirty kilometers from the capital. All of last week, in Tashkent region, the weather left much to be desired. A light fog and torrential rains beat off any hunting stick out into the street. But it is precisely in such circumstances, children gather here cotton harvest – from morning till evening, and to this day.

On one street in the village, we happened to notice a few young girls with rolled sacks tied with string dangling from their hands. We asked, surely all the cotton has been picked. “No, there are still many untapped fields. Everyone is picking “- said the girl. Moreover, they said themselves – that in these fields there are seventh-grade students of the local Kazakh school.

Journalists followed to the field where the children worked.. It is two kilometers from the village.

“Who are you?” – Snapped a woman standing nearby. It was a local school teacher watching over students as they picked cotton. We were honest, admitting that we were journalists who came specifically to look at the exploitation of children in the cotton fields. Her reaction was a bit surprising to us, as she was sympathetic to our work.

“Just don’t mention which school, or take pictures of the children’s faces, otherwise we’ll have problems,” – she advised. She even looked at each of our pictures to make sure that we didn’t show the faces of any of the children.  These very children, working in the fields, were schoolchildren of the sixth grade from the local school. And from their faces, it was clear that they absolutely did not like their work in this cold weather. Winds in the open fields mercilessly lashed at them.

The teacher said that every school has its own plan for the cotton harvest. “Our school needs to pick one and a half tons of cotton every day — this is our obligation. Whether we want to or not, there’s not enough time to do it.  Our administrators (from the regional educational department) promised that they would let us go at the end of October. It’s already November, and nothing is known as to when this will end,” complains a teacher.

After thanking her and promising that we would not specify the school, we went back. “You’re journalists, do something. Take the kids from the fields! “- Cried the teacher at us.

Source: Ferghana.ru, 11/09/09

Full version: http://www.ferghana .ru/news. .php?id=13397&mode=snews

Girl sent to pick cotton against her will

Synopsis: Ozodlik interviewed a 13-year-old girl from Khorezm who had harvested 10 kilograms of cotton, and said she was working against her will since September 20, along with others in her seventh grade class. The girl, whose first name only was given as Farangiz, said that children as young as from the third grade are sent to pick cotton and that school classes are cancelled.

Source:  Radio Ozodlik/11/05/ 09

Full version:  http://www.ozodlik. org/content/ article/1869793. html

Cotton harvest campaign has left the region’s residents without medical care

Synopsis: In Yangibazar district, Khorezm region, 350 workers of the medical facility, broken into six groups, took part in the cotton harvesting campaign. Their production standard was 60 kilograms per day. On one farm, 150 medical workers of Yangibazar central hospital picked cotton. Under contract with the farm, they had to collect 120 tons of cotton. The shortage of medical staff meant reduced staffing for patient care clinics and hospitals in the area.

Association for Human Rights in Central Asia

Press-release issued disseminated through HR- Uzbekistan Yahoo Group, 11/04/09

Uzbek Cotton Statistics Inflated: Farmers

Synopsis: The Uzbek government claimed that the plan has been fulfilled for the cotton harvest, with 3.4 million tons of cotton gathered, Radio Ozodlik reported. Yet Uzbek farmers say traditions of inflating the numbers still hold strong. A farmer from Djizak who asked not to be identified to avoid reprisals said it is impossible to meet government targets without falsifying the numbers. Farmers were given a deadline to gather the harvest by November 10 — but they simply didn’t have the cotton to fill it. If they don’t fulfil the quota, and don’t give up their land voluntarily, they will have to pay back loans they took out for fertilizer, oil, and other expenses.

Some farmers buy up cotton from others to meet their personal quotas, at the rate of 200-230,000 soums. And at the exchanges where the cotton is delivered, workers fake the numbers to make up a round ton, figuring they will not be caught. At the exchanges, workers have developed a deceptive practice of receiving a ton from a farmer but writing it down as 500 and selling the rest to other farmers who need to make their quotas; farmers who come in with their deliveries short buy the cotton to appear as if they had made their quotas. Another ruse used is to accept cotton of a certain higher sort, but then record it as a lower sort and pay less for it, which doesn’t then cover all the farmer’s expenses. Bribes are also paid to upgrade a certain type of cotton to another sort.

Farmers who have seen the harvest in the fields are surprised to hear that their region has fulfilled its plan when they have witnessed how it fell short. They find that fraud is ubiquitous because when they buy grain, they are also shorted and when they deliver cotton, they see the same phenomenon, which seems impossible to stop even with reports to the police.

Source:  Radio Ozodlik/11/ 03/09.

Full version:   http://www.ozodlik. org/content/ article/1868474. html

Uzbek Student Faces Difficulty in Getting Medical Exemption from Cotton Harvest

Synopsis: A student who gave only her first name, Feruza, to avoid reprisals, appealed to the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan (HRSU) for assistance after experiencing health problems while picking cotton, HRSU reported in a press release October 28. Feruza, a graduate of the Professional Technical College of Pakhtakor in the Djizak region said that after picking cotton she broke out in a rash from the dust and tried to get care in a local clinic.  She was unable to see a doctor, and was then reprimanded for not continuing to pick cotton.

HRSU members accompanied Feruza to a local clinic and saw Dr. Akbar Khamidov, but he refused to provide any certificate, despite clear symptoms of illness, saying he was under instructions from superiors at the Ministry of Health not to issue such medical statements to students. When an HRSU member asked him whether he had taken the Hippocratic Oath or the oath not to violate orders from his superiors, the doctor agreed to see Feruza, but called the chief physician at the hospital to request the certificate of illness. He gave a prescription for medicine and wrote out the medical excuse confirming the student’s allergy. But when HRSU went to submit this to the college, the superintendent refused to accept it and demanded that Feruza go to another clinic to obtain a document specifically releasing her from work on the cotton harvest.

The next day, HRSU was told that the doctor’s certificate would be accepted if it had the clinic’s triangular stamp and also an additional circular stamp from the hospital. The HRSU went back to the chief physician, who provided the stamp required. Then HRSU accompanied Feruza back to the clinic where administrators said she would have to be seen by several doctors, including a surgeon and eye doctor. After seeing all the physicians, she was at last able to get a medical release from picking cotton, and submitted it to the college. But two days later, an official brought all her school papers home and said that she was expelled from the college because she had not participated in the cotton harvest. Despite two days spent getting the medical certificates requested, and despite the two years that Feruza had already studied, she was expelled from the college. HRSU immediately appealed for her reinstatement

Source: Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan . Translation and synopsis by OSI Central Eurasia Project Press Release distributed via email

Press-release issued and disseminated through HR- Uzbekistan Yahoo Group, 11/09/09

Presidential Propagandists Driven to the Cotton Fields

Synopsis: No sooner than President Islam Karimov announced that harvest of 3.4 million tons of cotton was completed, the journalists who trumpeted this announcement for the state-controlled newspapers were driven to work in the cotton fields and gather the gleanings of the 2009 harvest, uznews.net reported.

Journalists from Narodnoe Slovo, Pravda Vostoka, and UzA news agency were sent to the fields involuntarily to pick cotton. Reporters said buses came for them early in the morning and took them to pick cotton in the Tashkent region.

A source at Narodnoe Slovo told uznews.net that at this paper, Utkir Rakhmatov, editor-in-chief, gathered the journalists  and said it was their duty to participate in their country’s destiny by helping with the cotton harvest. A reporter from Pravda Vostoka complained that despite poor health, he was forced to go out and pick cotton, and also that the newspapers had to continue to come out during this period despite the co-optation of the journalists to promote the harvest.

Source:  uznews.net/11/ 05/09.

Full version:   http://www.uznews. net/news_ single.php? lng=ru&sub=hot&cid=2&nid=11891

School children in Tajikistan ’s cotton fields

Synopsis: When it comes to the use of child labor to help bring in Tajikistan ’s cotton crop, the government’s heart may be in the right place. Officials in Dushanbe have tried to prohibit the practice. But practical circumstances in the impoverished Central Asian nation mean that children are still found in the fields during the harvest season.

The cotton sector in Tajikistan appears caught in a downward spiral, and the child-labor issue is but one of many problems. Antiquated infrastructure hampers innovation and productivity, while a drop in global demand has ensnared many farmers in a debt trap. Local officials also seem to be captives of Soviet-style thinking: in many rural areas, political bosses continue to use their clout and allocate precious state resources to prop up the cotton sector, despite decreasing yields and an escalating food crisis.

In Tajikistan ’s southern districts bordering Afghanistan , most of the laborers picking cotton these days are women; the rest are children, some as young as age six. A large percentage of Tajik men are labor migrants, and have left the country in search of work.

“Child labor is used on a large scale,” said Nargis Zokirova, Director of the NGO Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law. “In 2006, our president issued a decree prohibiting child labor in cotton fields. The Ministry of Education also issued a decree prohibiting taking children to the cotton fields. But, despite those decrees, children are still taken to the cotton fields. When we talked to teachers, they didn’t know about those decrees.”

That children are harvesting cotton is widely accepted. Less clear is whether children are forced to pick at the expense of their studies. “Schools are not closed down during the picking season [. . . ] children are taken to the cotton fields after school,” Takhmina Babadjanova of the NGO Amparo in Khujand told EurasiaNet. “Kids don’t skip school. After school they go home, have something to eat, change their clothes and then they go pick the cotton.”

But, she added, local officials do use coercive methods on teachers and children. “The kids have problems getting their books if they don’t go pick cotton,” Babadjanova said. “During exams and finals, they might have problems with their grades. Or there have been some cases, very rare, when the students [were] expelled from school for not going to pick cotton. All of this causes problems for parents, of course. They worry.”

Zokirova, the human rights advocate, noted that a cycle of fear seems to swirl in schools during the harvest season. “Teachers told us that they were forced by the principal of a school to take the children to the cotton fields,” she said. “When we talked to the kids, they said that they were forced to go to the cotton field by the teachers. They also said that if they wouldn’t go, teachers threatened to expel them from school.”

A network of 13 local NGOs issued a report in late October that gauged Tajikistan ’s adherence to the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. It estimated that child labor accounts for up to 40 percent of the cotton harvest’s total tonnage. It also asserted that children endure harsh conditions in the fields. “The children labor under difficult conditions, including very hot weather, poor quality food and water, and a lack of necessary medicines,” the report stated.

The few men who have not migrated abroad in search of work appear to be supervising. One, who called himself a brigadier, told EurasiaNet that the workers do not get paid regularly, adding that he and his team had not been paid in over six months.

With the focus on cotton, which accounts for 11 percent of Tajikistan ’s GDP according to the NGO network’s report, wheat and other staples must be imported. Observers make frequent com paris ons to neighboring Uzbekistan . An international campaign against forced child labor there prompted Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, to boycott Uzbek cotton last year.

“Overall, Tajikistan doesn’t look bad because Uzbekistan is much worse,” a western diplomat said on condition of anonymity. Tajikistan is “making some progress to do away with child labor, but it is a similar scenario [to Uzbekistan ], just on a smaller scale.” “The issue here is not just about child labor, but about the exploitation of all laborers, including women,” the diplomat concluded..

Source: Eurasianet.Org, 11/03/09

Full version: http://www.eurasian et.org/departmen ts/insightb/ articles/ eav110309. shtml

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To read more reports forced child labor visit www.cottoncampaign. org

More reading:

FAQ : http://www.cottonca mpaign.org/ frequently- asked-questions/

Academic view of the subject: http://www.soas. ac.uk/cccac/ events/cotton- sector-in- central-asia- 2005/file49842. pdf

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