US State Department speaks about the situation with human rights in Uzbekistan 

On February 24, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu and US Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Ramin Toloui spoke about Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s upcoming trip to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and India. 

“Advancing human rights in Central Asia has always been a top priority for the United States,” Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu said during a briefing with reporters. 

He also spoke about the human rights situation in Uzbekistan. 

“In Uzbekistan, where there have been some really serious human rights issues for years, last year, we saw a huge shift in the use of forced and child labor in the cotton harvest. Thus, the International Labor Organization recently stated that they see it completely eliminated in Uzbekistan as a result of reforms - and this happened within a little over a year. It’s really wonderful. We have not seen the same rapid progress anywhere else in the world,” the representative of the US foreign policy department concluded. 

Earlier, it was reported that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken would visit Tashkent. In addition, he will attend the C5+1 ministerial meeting and then travel to New Delhi to attend the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.