Aug 072009
 

One Of The ‘World’s Worst Daughters’

August 07, 2009
After running last week a list of the worst-behaved sons of world leaders, “Foreign Policy” magazine this week looks at the daughters.

Leading the way is Uzbek president’s daughter Gulnara Karimova, who was also appointed as the country’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva:

[B]ack home, Karimova is likely being groomed as successor to her brutal dictator father and has used his influence to amass her own formidable financial holdings.

The consequences of crossing Karimova became clear in 2001 when she divorced her husband, an Afghan-American businessman with extensive holdings in Uzbekistan, and took their children out of the United States in violation of a court order. The unfortunate ex-husband’s Coca-Cola bottling factory in Uzbekistan was promptly shut down, three of his relatives were imprisoned, and 24 were deported at gunpoint to Afghanistan. In 2006, Karimova, whose business interests include most of Uzbekistan’s tea industry, reportedly sent hooded men with machine guns to shut down a rival company and liquidate their holdings.

She also has a burgeoning music career.

— Luke Allnutt

Posted At: 07 August 12:39

Aug 052009
 

Once justice and legitimacy fade away a state becomes a gang of bandits.
Augustine Aurelius.

The statement of Human rights Society of Uzbekistan
About compulsory and child labour in Uzbekistan


The August, 5th, 2009

Since 2004, Uzbek and international human rights organizations have constantly brought up the question on the use of child and forced labour in the cultivation of a cotton and by the authorities of Uzbekistan. The authorities have not recognized or have denied compulsory attraction of schoolboys, 12-16 aged, to agricultural works. With the boycott beginning on the purchase of the Uzbek cotton by a number of known foreign firms, such as Tesco, Walmart, Target, Levi Strauss, Gap, Limited Brands and Marks and Spencer and H&M the authorities of Uzbekistan in first half of 2008 were forced to ratify two documents of the United Nations on child labour, namely the Convention of the International Labour Organization No.138 “About the minimum age for employment” and the United Nations No.182 “About prohibition and immediate measures on eradication of the worst forms of child labour”. Continue reading »

Jun 242009
 

Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan

S  T  A  T  E  M  E  N  T
on Poverty in Uzbekistan

That fact which follows from human nature that any capable, sane person cannot subject the members of the family to poverty at his own will. It is an axiom.
Short of wars, natural cataclysms and various epidemics which can sometimes occur in the history of this or that state, one of the dangerous social harms – poverty, is a direct consequence of the  criminal policy of the powermongering dictators. Good will of heads of state and freedom given to the people, multiplied by diligence and the initiative of people, leads to state prosperity even if it is not completely rich with natural resources. Japan is one of the best examples to acknowledge the fact. Continue reading »

Jun 122009
 

TODAY is World Day Against Child Labor!


This year is especially important because 2009 marks the tenth anniversary of the adoption of ILO Convention No. 182, which addresses the need for action to eliminate the worst forms of child labor.


Find out more about World Day Against Child Labor on ILRF’s website here.

ILRF has a long history of working to stop child labor. We continue to support international conventions in addition to national and local legislation to reduce the worst forms of child labor and ensure that all workers’ rights are protected. Keep reading to find out:

What ILRF is doing to stop child labor

What YOU can do to stop child labor

Cotton
This week, ILRF Executive Director Bama Athreya is in Geneva at the International Labor Conference, the ILO’s annual gathering. ILRF helped to organize an event yesterday about the continued use of forced child labor in Uzbekistan’s cotton industry. The event featured speakers including Kailash Satyarthi of the Global March Against Child Labor as well as many other leading figures from human rights and labor organizations, government officials and companies.  The agenda from the event is available online here.

The event in Geneva comes less than a week after ILRF released a new report detailing how forced child labor continues to be used in the most recent cotton harvest in Uzbekistan. Additionally, Uzbek human rights advocates just released a new call for an international boycott of Uzbek cotton.

Jun 112009
 

Only a boycott of Uzbek cotton can convince the
Karimov regime to stop forced child labor in this country!
An open letter from Uzbek civic activists to:
· The European Union
· The United States Administration
· Companies importing cotton, textiles,
and cotton products
· International Executive Committee of
Cotton, Textiles, and Cotton Products;
Bremen Cotton Exchange; Gdynia
Cotton Association
· World Bank
· Asian Development Bank
cc:
· United Nations Human Rights Council
· International Labor Organization
· UNICEF
· European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development
· The Government and Citizens of
Uzbekistan
· Those concerned about human rights
in Uzbekistan
June 3, 2009
Summary:
· Despite ratifying International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions, Uzbekistan
continues to use forced child labor.
· Uzbekistan does not reinvest the proceeds from its cotton exports into cotton
producers and the rural areas where it is grown, but siphons it into the hands of a
small group of the country’s ruling elites.
· World Bank and Asian Development Bank loans to Uzbekistan’s agricultural sector
have not led to genuine reform. Uzbekistan’s continued reliance upon a command
economy paves the way for loans to go into the hands of the ruling elite. Activists are
calling for international financial instruments to lend to the Uzbek agro-sector only
on a conditional basis, to encourage the reforms that would free Uzbek farmers
from the tyranny of a corrupt regime.
· Activists are calling for a boycott of Uzbek cotton. They call upon companies
importing cotton, in particular the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre , as well as
retailers, to adhere to the principles of corporate social responsibility
· The international community should not take at face value mere spoken or written
commitments made by Uzbekistan, but should demand actions demonstrating a
complete end to the practice of forced child labor that can be verified via an
independent monitoring during the cotton season.
· Activists call on the U.S. government and the EU to take steps to prevent their
markets from being penetrated by products bearing traces of forced child labor. Continue reading »