…children must not be involved in compulsory labor…

O’zbekiston Inson Huquqlari “EZGULIK” Jamiyati

Press-release #28,21.09.2010

Child labor has come along from the cotton fields to the makhallas of the Capital City!

The most inhumane actions in the

world are accomplished under attractive slogans. (Seneca)

The period between September 15 to October 15 of 2010 was announced as the month of “Planting gardens, resurfacing, and improving the sanitary condition of the territories of regions” in the Capital City according to the degree of the governor of Tashkent City.In the plan of the project which was developed on the above-stated labor month, a number of daily collective free assistance such as cleansing the streets, avenues, makhallas, public areas, and the blocks of apartments were also taken into consideration. Tashkent City department of Public administrative divisions of the City Hall as well as its subdivisions in the regions the schoolchildren in those about mentioned collective assistance and a number of documents of such kind reached our society. They state that the schoolchildren are made responsible for the cleanliness of the houses, paths, and the roads around the territory they reside.

As it was clarified, this decree was put into force at schools starting from yesterday, and one can watch hundreds of schoolchildren with buckets and brooms in their hands cleaning the paths of the houses and tidying the garbage dumps up. According to some school teachers, involving the schoolchildren of the Capital City in this campaign is a positive situation whereas the schoolchildren who live in the country areas are assisting the farmers with cotton gathering. Involving the children in such optional-compulsory collective assistance considering their educational importance makes the children’s psychology change toward a positive side and develop a useful work experience in them. Furthermore, this is the order of the government, elderly people do not feel the importance of these actions being implemented with the objective of resurfacing and planting gardens.

“The most inhumane actions in the world are accomplished under attractive slogans” said one of the great thinkers. If the above-mentioned process which is being simply stated by the educators and the administration of the City Hall, and turned into an order by copying their will onto the paper is named by an international legal phrase, it will be “the exploitation of child labor”. Like a number of countries of the world, the government of Uzbekistan has also ratified a convention on prohibition of type of a so-called exploitation as well as developing some national laws. According to the core meaning of those legal documents, children must not be involved in compulsory labor and making use of their labor is also prohibited. Consequently, if there exist the decrees of school administration, regional department of Public Education, and the City Hall on involving the children in collective assistance and making them responsible for the cleanliness of houses, roads, and makhallas (for instance, the order signed by the principal of the school number 300 in Sergeli region), this is nothing other than the exploitation of child labor. Moreover, what is the difference between the schoolchildren who are forced to work as slaves in the cotton plantations and the children whose responsibility is cleaning the trash and doing the job of a blue-collar worker behind the attractive slogans?

Uzbekistan Human Rights Society “Ezgulik” wants the General Prosecutor’s office to review the verbal and written instructions of Tashkent City Hall administration and Tashkent City administration of Public Education. It also suggests the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Uzbekistan to cancel all the orders, normatives, and many other legal documents on the exploitation of child labor. The Society requests the Ministry of Public Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan to give an official explanation on the above-stated situation.

Human Rights of Uzbekistan “EZGULIK”.