Uzbekistan stops systematic use of child labour in cotton harvesting, says ILO
By Trend
The International Labour Organization (ILO) has announced that the systematic use of child labor in Uzbekistan’s cotton harvest has come to an end over the past few years.
The organization notes that the 2017 cotton harvest took place in the context of increased transparency and dialogue. "This has encompassed all groups of civil society, including critical voices of individual activists. This is an encouraging sign for the future," reads the report.
"The most compelling signals of change were given by the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, in his speech at the General Assembly of the United Nations in September, and by the subsequent measures taken nationally to implement a policy of voluntary recruitment for the cotton harvest. Uzbekistan also pledged to engage with independent civil society groups at the IV Global Conference on the Sustained Eradication of Child Labour , held in Argentina on November 14–16, 2017, and meetings with the civil society activists already took place prior to the Roundtable," the report reads.
During the harvest, the ILO experts carried out 3,000 unaccompanied interviews with cotton pickers and others involved in the harvest in all provinces of the country. This covered local authorities, and education and medical personnel. In addition, a telephone poll of 1,000 randomly selected persons was conducted. Before the harvest, the ILO experts organized training for some 6,300 people directly involved with the recruitment of cotton pickers.
The results confirm that there is a high level of awareness of the unacceptability of both child and forced labor. There is no systematic use of child labor, and instructions have been given and measures undertaken to ensure that all recruitment of cotton pickers is on a voluntary basis. Certain risk groups (students, education and medical personnel) were withdrawn from the harvest at its early stage.
However, the ILO notes that some of the issues observed at the local level show that there is a need for further awareness raising and capacity building, which varies somewhat between provinces and districts.
"The prohibition of any forced recruitment of students or education and medical personnel appears to be well known. Among the issues observed at the local level, the pattern of requesting various fees for replacement pickers has not yet been eliminated. In the immediate future, it is important to make sure that no recruiter should ask for such payments, and that no one should feel obliged to make them," according to the ILO.
The findings will be formally presented to the World Bank in a report, which will be released in early 2018, the ILO reported.
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