Cotton Campaign delegation to visit Uzbekistan

From January 29 to February 6, representatives of the international coalition Cotton Campaign will pay a working visit to Uzbekistan, the MFA press service reported.

According to the Embassy of Uzbekistan in the United States, the Cotton Campaign delegation includes representatives of non-governmental human rights organizations of the Responsible Purchasing Network, Human Rights Watch, the Solidarity Center, the Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights and the Central Asia Labor Rights Monitoring Mission.

Within the framework of the visit, coalition members will meet with the leadership of the ministries of labor, agriculture, justice, investment and foreign trade of Uzbekistan, the Uztuqimachiliksanoat Association, the Confederation of Employers of Uzbekistan and the Federation of Trade Unions of Uzbekistan. 

A separate meeting is planned with the chairman of the National Commission on Combatting Human Trafficking and Forced Labor, the Senate Chairperson Tanzila Narbayeva.

It is expected that during these meetings the results of the 2019 cotton harvest and the effectiveness of measures taken to prevent forced labor, the implementation of roadmaps aimed at eliminating factors contributing to forced labor, as well as enhancing interaction with civil society in this area will be discussed.

Coalition members will also take part in a briefing by the International Labor Organization on preliminary cotton harvest monitoring results.