National Monitoring: More than 3000 employees of state bodies were attracted in forced labor on cotton harvesting  

On September 25 – November 1, 2018, a national monitoring was held in Uzbekistan to prevent child and forced labor on cotton harvesting, Kun.uz correspondent reports referring to the data from the Federation of Trade Unions. 

It should be noted that the facts of attracting employees of the state bodies, economic entities and health care institutions to cotton picking were studied. In total, 39 cases were identified with the involvement of more than 3,130 workers (including 309 students). Of the recorded cases, 6 are in Andijan, 3 in Bukhara, 8 in Jizzakh, 2 in Kashkadarya, 8 in Navoi, 1 in Namangan, 10 in Tashkent and 1 in Khorezm region. 

It was identified that 256 employees of state bodies, economic entities and healthcare institutions involved in cotton picking were on labor leave, 634 were on leave without a pay by the main place of work, 80 were working during their off days and no valid documents were presented for the rest 1851 employees confirming their stay in the cotton fields. The workers themselves denied the fact of administrative coercion to attend cotton harvesting. 

Also, 81 employees of business entities in 3 cases in Bukhara (OJSC “Shakhboz Karpet” - 10, OJSC “Sayfulla plyus Saida” - 10, PE “Omad kumushkent” - 10) and 1 case in Tashkent region ("Bustonlikplasttekst" - 51) were recorded. 30 of them had a rest day by the main place of work. 

After the intervention of the Federation of Trade Union, 96 employees of the Unitary Enterprise “Tashkent thermal station” were returned to their workplaces. They were participating in picking cotton at the farm “Komiljon Zebo” in Buka district.