Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 30 September 2020, the working group of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis at the Namangan regional headquarters of the Central Bank conducted a study on the state of attracting employees of the Namangan regional headquarters of the Central Bank and commercial banks of the region to forced labor during the cotton harvest campaign.

On the basis of a message (post) posted on the TV-channel "Banker’s Diary" and a written instruction from the Chairman of the Senate, the Working Group monitored the study of forced labor in 17 operating banks in the region.

During the monitoring, attention was drawn mainly to whether bank employees are currently working at their workplaces, whether they are aware that they should not be involved in picking cotton (forced labor), whether there have been cases of hiring another person instead of themselves for participation in the collection of cotton, were additional funds collected from the workers, were there any cases of attracting at the weekend to hashar to pick cotton.

Members of the working group on these issues held private talks with employees of each bank. In total, the banks of the region have 1,078 full-time employees, of which 914 employees were interviewed anonymously.

Some bank employees could not take part in the survey. For example, it turned out that 100 out of 164 employees are sick, there are 17 vacancies, 10 employees are on business trips in other areas, and 37 employees are on labor leave.

From the interviews it became clear that from 14 September 2020, a general mobilization for cotton picking was announced in the region, and until 21 September, some technical workers of banks (cleaners, gardeners and drivers) voluntarily decided to take part in the cotton harvest in order to obtain additional income. However, since September 23, in connection with a study by the Working Group of the Senate, these workers have been returned from the cotton fields.

When conducting local interviews with the heads of clusters, farms and detachments, bank employees gave clear answers that they do not participate in the cotton harvest and are not included in the detachments.

When we contacted the administrator and owner of the "Banker’s Diary" telegram channel named Khumoyun and asked for information regarding a post posted on his channel on 29 September 2020 at 18.00, he wrote the word "Hello" and did not get in touch again. Thus, he declined to comment on the post he posted.

It has been established that today the employees of the Namangan regional head office of the Central Bank and commercial banks work at their workplaces.

If such cases are observed, please contact the Senate of the Oliy Majlis.

Tolibjon MADUMAROV, Head of the Republican Working Group.