Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) - Every year almost two million people are involved in the cotton harvest in Uzbekistan. The country achieved a turning point in the fight against child and forced labor during the 2020 cotton harvest, according to a new ILO report.

The systematic and systematic use of child and forced labor in cotton growing in Uzbekistan has ended, although some problems still remain on the ground, according to a report just released by the International Labor Organization (ILO).

The report prepared for the World Bank noted that every eighth working-age resident of the country took part in the cotton harvest in Uzbekistan. This makes the cotton harvest the world’s largest workforce recruitment event. The overwhelming majority of pickers are rural residents, sixty-five percent are women.

The systematic use of child labor has ceased, and child labor is no longer an acute problem

“When I was in school, we had to miss many lessons because of the harvest,” says Dilshoda Shodmonova from the city of Chirchik near Tashkent. - Today, thanks to the reforms, my daughter can go to school and get an education without any interruptions. This is an excuse for me to continue to participate in the labor rights movement.”

The country has made significant progress in ensuring the basic labor rights of those working in the cotton fields. In 2020, more than 96 percent of harvest workers worked voluntarily, and the systematic involvement of students, teachers, doctors and paramedics in the harvest is no longer practiced.

In 2020, the share of forced cotton pickers has decreased by 33 percent compared to 2019. However, at the local level, there were still cases where people were threatened with deprivation of benefits or rights if they refused to participate in the cotton harvest.

During the monitoring carried out by the ILO, particular attention was paid to issues related to the pandemic. Its consequence was the massive return of labor migrants to the country, and there were more people ready to harvest cotton.

Cotton pickers are well aware of coronavirus infection, and many admitted that they were afraid of getting sick. One third of them confirmed that they were provided with masks and handwashing products. Two-thirds that they always manage to maintain social distance during meals or rest breaks.

The main incentive that encourages residents of the country to participate in the cotton harvest is the opportunity to earn money. On average, each picker worked twenty-one days picking cotton and earned 1.54 million soums (equivalent to US$150). This is more than the average teacher salary in Uzbekistan.

For most pickers, participation in the harvest is their main source of livelihood. Sixty percent said that earnings from participating in the 2020 campaign are their only cash income for the year.

In 2017, the Uzbek government significantly increased wages and introduced a differentiated pay scale, which provides for higher prices for harvested cotton during the final harvest period, when conditions are less favorable and there is less cotton. These steps have helped to significantly reduce the use of forced labor.

“Forced labor is not only socially and morally unacceptable: it is a serious violation of human rights that is criminalized in Uzbekistan,” said Tanzila Narbaeva, Chairperson of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of Uzbekistan and head of the National Commission on Combating Human Trafficking and Forced Labor. “To change people’s behavior, you need to change their way of thinking. And all of us - legislators, government officials, employers, trade unionists and civil society activists - are working together to achieve this. ”

The ILO has been monitoring the use of child labor in the cotton harvest since 2013. In 2015, within the framework of an agreement with the World Bank, monitoring of the situation with forced labor was added to this work. In 2020, independent monitoring under the auspices of the ILO was carried out by the forces of Uzbek civil society activists who received the necessary training at the ILO and used its methodology. The activists said that neither state bodies nor local officials interfered in their work.

Uzbekistan is replacing the state-owned production system inherited from Soviet times with a production model based on market relations, while striving to provide the necessary guarantees, including fair recruitment practices and adequate wages.

The government’s strategy is to increase Uzbekistan’s participation in value chains and transform the country from an exporter of raw cotton to a supplier of textiles and finished garments. This will help create millions of better-paying jobs and generate significant export earnings.

“The international community should continue to support the reforms being undertaken here,” said Jonas Astrup, chief technical advisor to the ILO’s Independent Monitoring Project on Child and Forced Labor in Uzbekistan. - Trade and investment decisions made by responsible international companies are likely to further eliminate the legacy of a centrally planned economy. They can also have a positive impact on compliance with international labor standards. According to the ILO, those enterprises should be encouraged that take a responsible approach to the selection of suppliers of cotton, textile and clothing products from Uzbekistan. The ILO is ready to pilot the tools and mechanisms in Uzbekistan to enable international brands and retailers to make informed business decisions. "

The report, “Independent Monitoring of the Situation of Child Labor and Forced Labor during the 2020 Cotton Harvest in Uzbekistan,” is based on unannounced interviews with more than 9,000 people from a representative sample of 1.8 million cotton pickers across the country. country.

An independent monitoring project under the auspices of the ILO is funded by a multi-donor trust fund established by the World Bank. The largest contributions to it come from the European Union, the USA, Switzerland and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).