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8 September 2015
Leah Sullivan, Programme Assistant
Very few people are interested in, or even know about, human rights abuses in Uzbekistan.
Mention fast fashion, sweatshops and labour rights, most people will think of countries like Bangladesh and Cambodia, from where much of our clothes is exported directly to our Western high streets, and where much energy has focused on improving conditions in factories following tragedies such as Rana Plaza.
While South East Asia remains in the spotlight in global supply chains, few people recognise the role of Central Asian republics such as Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan in the equation.
But Central Asia is a key player in the production and export of cotton, which is then used to make clothes for Western markets in South East Asia. This should worry human rights campaigners, as the cotton production system is powered by a state-organised system of forced labour of hundreds of thousands of children and adults, a system which is reluctant to bend to international pressure.
Right now, ordinary people – teachers, nurses and doctors – are preparing to leave their jobs to spend weeks in the cotton fields of Uzbekistan, where they will be forced to work long hours in arduous conditions without additional compensation, often staying in makeshift accommodation, and facing threats of dismissal and heavy fines if they do not comply.
People have been known to die from exhaustion – only in July of this year, a 55-year-old woman died after being forced to weed a cotton field in 50 degree heat. She had been feeling unwell and had not wanted to work, but was afraid of losing her job at a local school. Such incidents are unfortunately all too common.
Brutal treatment is also meted out against those who dare to object – one human rights activist, Elena Urlaeva, was detained for more than 10 hours and subjected to an excessive and humiliating treatment by local authorities in May this year, which drew condemnation from Governments, the EU, and big human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
But it didn’t make the headlines in mainstream media, and the reality of the forced labour system in Uzbekistan remains unknown to general public.
This is why Anti-Slavery International decided to create an animation outlining the system of cotton production in Uzbekistan, describing what has been done to change it, and why and how we need to continue to fight for justice for Uzbek citizens, who live under a repressive Government in which dissent is often harshly repressed.
I hope you like the video and share it widely with your networks. More people need to know!
