Forced labor in Uzbek cotton fields continues

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 17 Sep 2020 by Alex Teddy
The government insists that it ended obligatory unpaid toil in cotton fields. As it is fall the time has come to harvest cotton.The Cotton Campaign is a global movement for human rights in the cotton industry. The Cotton Campaign has been leading a boycott of Uzbek cotton since 2010 because the government there effectively enslaves people. Despite Tashkent's protestations that it has terminated forced labor many NGOs say this is untrue. The government has peopled working without pay picking cotton and claims the people are volunteers. The regime has simply re-branded slavery. The victims of forced unpaid labor are intimidated into signing forms saying that they were working of their own free will. They are supposedly paid USD 01. per kilo. The best workers earn a dollar a day. The minimum wage in the country is USD 12 per day.On September 5 the Ministry of Employment and Labor defended 'volunteering' saying it was assisting impecunious people. The statement was true in one sense. It is the poor and those without connections who are victims of forced labor. The government insists that people are working voluntarily.Those who do not work fast enough can even find themselves in debt to their exploiters. The laborers are provided with meals and are charged for them. The forced laborer typically spend two months at a time cotton picking. The authorities pick on the powerless such as single mothers. Unwed pregnancy is considered a disgrace. The practice is rife in the president's native Jizzakh Region.There are cluster farms that gain from forced labor. These are owned by bureaucrats or their relatives. This includes the president's kin. Family is everything in Uzbekistan!Pu...

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