Night duty is a form of forced labor – Senate Chairperson

On December 30, the National Commission for Combating Human Trafficking and Forced Labor of the Senate held a meeting. Chairperson of the commission Tanzila Narbayeva touched upon the issues of night shift and forced labor.

“Forced labor has 11 attributes defined by the International Labor Organization. It is included in the Convention. Night duty, for example, is a form of forced labor. Because an employee has to sit at night, even if he does not want to.

But khashar (voluntary public work), cleaning one’s area – these things are not considered to be forced labor. One or two people may wish not to participate in it. Nobody will force, nor criticize him,” Kun.uz correspondent quoted Narbayeva as saying.

The Senate Chairperson also commented on involvement in labor within the framework of government programs.

Let me talk about “Obod qishloq” (“Prosperous village”), “Obod makhalla” government programs. For example, when a teacher is teaching, or a physician is treating patients, and at the same time, if they are involved in the work of “Obod qishloq”, then it is considered to be forced labor. Because he is not performing his functional job and is being attracted to different work,” she said.

Narbayeva instructed the commissioners to form a unified approach to night duty and if the state needs additional work on a voluntary basis, to take this into account in the newly developed Labor Code.