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Article

28 Aug 2010

Author:
Mansur Mirovalev, AP

Silk's dark side: Uzbek kids made to grow cocoons

Uzbekistan's authoritarian government insists that it has banned child labor but Nishanova, now 15, hasn't heard about it. She and her siblings, aged 9 to 17, think it's perfectly natural to be helping their father grow silkworms, as well as cotton and wheat...[The] modern-day incarnation [of the Uzbek silk industry] as a state monopoly has a dark side...The use of child labor in Uzbek cotton-picking has been widely documented, and Walmart and several other U.S. chain stores won't stock it...Uzbek Ipagi, the state–run monopoly, exports Uzbek silk to China, India, South Korea and Western Europe. Some stays in Uzbekistan to be woven into scarves or rugs at small factories and mainly sold to tourists...Rustam Zakhidov, director general of Silver Silk, an Uzbek-British joint venture, said his company sells silk ribbons and thread worth $1.5 million a year to India, Vietnam, China and Turkey. He would not identify his British partners. [also refers to Wal-Mart]