Stay updated with breaking news from Jonas Astrup. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
Almost two million people are recruited every year for the annual cotton harvest in Uzbekistan. The country has succeeded in eradicating forced and child labour during the 2021 cotton production cycle, according to new ILO findings.
6 Feb in 11:00 Emerging Europe A combination of government-led reform, international pressure, higher wages, and the return of migrant workers from abroad has all-but eradicated the use of child and forced labour in the Uzbek cotton harvest. As Emerging Europe reports, although some local vestiges still remain, the systematic and systemic use of child and forced labour in Uzbekistan’s cotton industry has come to an end, according to a new report from the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The report, compiled for the World Bank, shows that one in eight people of working age in U...
“When I was a child, we unfortunately missed a lot of school classes because of the cotton harvest,” says Dilshoda Shodmonova from Chircik, near the capital Tashkent. “Today, thanks to the reforms, my own daughter can go to school uninterrupted and get her education. This encourages me to continue my work as a labour rights activist.” According to the ILO, the country is making significant progress on fundamental labour rights in the cotton fields. More than 96 per cent of workers in the 2020 cotton harvest worked freely and the systematic recruitment of students, teachers, doctors an...