Uzbekistan to organize National Monitoring to check for child and forced labor during the 2019 cotton harvest

Uzbekistan will organize National Monitoring to inspect works on the fields during the cotton harvest term in order to create conditions for cotton pickers and prevent child and forced labor. This was said at a briefing held at the Trade Unions Federation of Uzbekistan.

It is planned to hold the monitoring from September 25 to October 31. 

The monitoring will involve experts from industrial and territorial trade unions, the Women’s Committee, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Youth Union, NGOs, and also local human rights defenders. In addition, representatives of several international trade union centers from the USA and Europe are expected to attend.

The main purpose of the monitoring is to assess the creation of conditions for cotton pickers and to prevent persons under 18 years of age, pupils, students and employees of budgetary organizations from being involved in forced labor.

In order to conduct quality monitoring, methodological manuals – a manual for conducting the national monitoring, questionnaires for conducting interviews during monitoring and for assessing the conditions created for cotton pickers have been developed.

The Federation of Trade Unions will equip the leaders of the monitoring groups with Internet-connected tablets, and they will also be provided with organizational-technical assistance.

It should be noted that during the cotton harvest season, the Feedback Mechanism of the Federation of Trade Unions of Uzbekistan will operate to prevent violations of the labor rights of workers. The feedback mechanism is carried out through the “Hotline” at 1092, the website kasaba.uz and Telegram bot @kasaba_bot.