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The Role of Children in Uzbekistan’s Cotton Harvest

The Role of Children in Uzbekistan’s Cotton Harvest. By Elliott Cannell & Steve Trent. Denying that Child Labour occurs. “We do not use children’s labour” - Uzbek Embassy in London. “We buy our cotton from government agencies and

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The Role of Children in Uzbekistan’s Cotton Harvest

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  1. The Role of Children in Uzbekistan’s Cotton Harvest By Elliott Cannell & Steve Trent

  2. Denying that Child Labour occurs • “We do not use children’s labour” - Uzbek Embassy in London • “We buy our cotton from government agencies and don’t know what happens in the field” - an International Cotton Trader

  3. Child Labour in the Uzbek Cotton Harvest • “Our teacher told us to go and pick cotton. Everyone is picking cotton… I get 50 soums for one day” – Dilfusa, 10 years old, Namangan • “Everybody says cotton, cotton, cotton, but we need a future generation. Everyone is involved in picking cotton from 1st classes to old men and women who can hardly walk.” – Abdurakhimova, an Uzbek schoolteacher • “12 kgs a day.” “It’s better to go to school: you get education” – Isom, 12 years old, Ferghana

  4. Organisation of Child Labour • Mass mobilisation of children orchestrated by the Uzbek State • Accommodation in makeshift barracks

  5. How many Children? • UNICEF – 22.6% of 5-14 year olds (1.4 million children) • 700,000 schoolchildren in 1987 (45% mechanisation) • “It’s getting worse and worse. Before they sent children from the 9th to the 11th classes. But now they’re sending 3rd class children as well. Children as young as 9 years old have no lessons and are also involved in the cotton campaigns.” • 200,000 in Ferghana District (2001)

  6. Consequences of Forced Child Labour • Exhaustion • Intestinal and respiratory infections, meningitis, hepatitis • Death – 8 children in Samarkand over a 2 year period • Debt: actual wages < expenses

  7. Uzbek Human Rights Organisations • “I want to ask the representatives of developed countries not to buy cotton which is picked by the hands of small children” – Head of Ezgulic, Namangan (2004) • 18 NGOs signed petition: ‘Boycott Uzbek cotton – our great future suffering in the cotton fields’ (2004) • “I believe that the world community will force the Uzbek government to respond to these crimes forcing children to be slaves” – Ut Yuraklar (2004)

  8. EJF Campaign • Retailers: declare their products free of Uzbek cotton • Build on existing EU position re: child labour imports • Clothing label designating apparel as being ‘Child Labour Free’ • Create greater awareness of the issue

  9. Thank you

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