Uzbekistan Increased Forced Labor of Adults in 2014 Cotton Harvest, 14 Nov 14

...A preliminary report released today by the Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights, a campaign member, presents evidence gathered by its network of monitors in Uzbekistan. Millions of Uzbek citizens were required to work in the cotton fields by local officials upon instructions from the very top of Uzbekistan’s hyper-centralized government. Continuing a trend started in 2012, the government reduced the number of children forced to pick cotton by increasing the forced labor burden on adults. The government did not, however, eliminate child labor.

“Cotton in Uzbekistan is produced by massive human rights violations, including forced labor, said Umida Niyazova, director of the Uzbek-German Forum. “Reducing the number of children in the fields by forcing even more adults to work against their will is not sufficient. The government needs to dismantle the forced labor system.”

Among the most tragic findings of the report was that 17 people died in the 2014 harvest, six more than last year. In one case, a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old died in a house fire after being left alone while their mother, who could not afford to buy herself out of the harvest, went to pick cotton...