UN Sees “Major Progress” in Uzbekistan’s Efforts to Reduce Forced Labor

Uzbekistan has seen significant improvements on preventing child and forced labor during its cotton harvest: last year, 94% of pickers worked voluntarily, which the United Nations has marked as a “major progress” compared with previous years.

The nation is one of the biggest exporters of cotton, but has been highly prone to forced labor by adults and children. Last year, however, 102,000 of the 1.75 million people who took part in the annual harvest were reported to have been victims of forced labor – a whopping 40 percent drop from the year prior.

“Forced labor is completely unacceptable and has no place in modern Uzbekistan,” says Uzbek Senate chairwoman Tanzila Narbaeva. “We still have work to do, but we are encouraged that the reforms are showing such positive results.”

The U.N. International Labour Organization highlighted that the progress made in 2019 – in which pickers reported better working conditions and higher salaries after authorities criminalized forced labor and strengthened their inspections – showed the “systematic” use of child and forced labour had finally “come to an end”.