In autumn, most children return to school. For those unfortunate to live in the countryside of Uzbekistan, most have debarked on an annual two-month field trip. To pick cotton.
Some as young as seven are forced to work the fields, toiling in the heat and in the pesticide ridden crops. There is little to no compensation. Children are housed in former Soviet-era labor camps with no clean water and little protocol on sanitation. It is state sanctioned child labor and abuse.
In a display of guiltless hypocrisy the Uzbek government had the nerve to announce a ban on child labor in September. Tell that to the 2 to 2.5 million children who are still struggling to meet some headmaster's cotton quota.
Despite all the human rights abuses and slaughter (Uzbek gov. gunned down 750 people in a 2005 protest against corruption) the EU has decided to ease travel restrictions on Uzbek government officials. The EU now claims that Uzbekistan has decidedly improved its human rights record.
That is an absolute and tragic lie. Slavery and child labor…is a human rights improvement? Tell that to 2 to 2.5 million children who are currently toiling in the country's $1 billion industry. Tell that to the Uzbek rights activist recently convicted and sentenced to 10 years in jail on trumped up drug charges.
Human Rights Watch last week released a scathing report on Uzbekistan's disregard for civil liberties and media freedoms. Tashkent, Uzbekistan's capital, has no real intention of improving its human rights record writes HRW. Journalists, who dare voice any dissent, are either jailed or face a fate far worse.
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For more info on the campaign to end child labor and cotton visit Environmental Justice Foundation here.
