Belarus to join 'forced labor' cotton production in Uzbekistan


The Baranavichy cotton production association has entered the Uzbek cluster of cotton producers. Human rights activists believe that this sphere of production in Uzbekistan is linked to numerous violations of human rights.

The topic of cotton production in Uzbekistan has been in the focus of attention of human rights defenders for many years. The authorities are accused of forcing students, state employees (teachers, doctors) and even children to take part in the collection of cotton.

Working conditions there are very harmful for health. Every day you need to collect manually at least 50 kg of cotton, and this forced labor period lasts on average 12 days.

The payment for this hard work is about $ 30 for 12 days. To refuse this duty is impossible: state workers could face dismissal, and the students could be kicked out of schools.

Cotton collection in Uzbekistan

In 2012, a number of world-famous clothing brands called for a boycott of cotton from Uzbekistan, demanding the abolition of forced labor in production. Some countries joined the boycott, international organizations called for the renunciation of forced labor.

The pressure of the world community forced the Uzbek authorities to make concessions. In the fall of 2017, Prime Minister Abdullah Aripov called for the elimination of forced labor and child labor in the harvesting of cotton. According to observers, immediately after this statement, part of the forced collectors were sent home.

However, human rights activists believe that the situation with the collection of cotton is still very grave. The international coalition ‘Cotton Campaign,’ which monitors the protection of labor rights in the collection of cotton around the world, said this year that despite some progress, there are still cases of schoolchildren and state employees being involvement in the collection of cotton.

According to the representatives of the organization, they cannot be sure that the authorities of Uzbekistan are really going to fully fulfill their promises and refuse to use forced labor.

Details of the Belarusian-Uzbek cooperation in the cotton field have not yet been disclosed. The Baranavichy plant would not answer calls from belsat.eu.

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