The ILO website has published an article “Uzbek cotton is free from systemic child labour and forced labour”.

It is noted  that according to the forthcoming 2021 ILO Third-Party Monitoring Report of the Cotton Harvest in Uzbekistan based on eleven thousand interviews with cotton pickers, 99 per cent of those involved in the 2021 cotton harvest worked voluntarily. All provinces and districts had very few or no forced labour cases.

The findings are the latest from the ILO Third-Party Monitoring project, which has been monitoring the cotton harvest in Uzbekistan since 2015 under an agreement with the World Bank.

“Our collaboration has yielded good results – because after 7 years, this year’s report shows that Uzbek cotton is free from systemic child labour and systemic forced labour,” said ILO Director-General Guy Ryder. “There is now an opportunity for Uzbekistan to realize its goal of moving up the value chain and to create millions of decent full-time jobs in textile and garment manufacturing.”

It is emphasized that Uzbekistan is the sixth largest cotton producer in the world. Under the leadership of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the country has embarked on reforms that include the modernization of the country’s former agricultural economic model and the eradication of child labour and forced labour in the annual cotton harvest that was previously prevalent.

“We undertook these reforms to benefit our people and our economy. The starting point was to abolish the state order system for cotton production but we didn’t stop there,” said Tanzila Narbaeva, the Chair of the Uzbek Senate and Head of the National Commission to Combat Forced Labour and Human Trafficking.

“We worked tirelessly to change thinking and behaviour through awareness raising campaigns on labour rights. We criminalized child labour and forced labour. We enhanced our labour inspection and we engaged in dialogue with civil society to identify common ground and solutions.”

Jonas Astrup, Chief Technical Advisor of the ILO TPM Project in Uzbekistan said that monitors observed new developments which indicate the democratization of the labour market in Uzbekistan.

The ILO Third-Party Monitoring project is implemented with support from the European Union, the US State Department, the Government of Switzerland, and Germany. It will conclude in May this year and by request of the government, and workers’ and employers’ organizations in Uzbekistan a feasibility study for a Better Work programme will be undertaken. The Better Work Programme is a joint initiative of the ILO and The World Bank Group.

The 2021 ILO Third-Party Monitoring Report of the Cotton Harvest in Uzbekistan will be published on 29 March.