Cotton industry in Uzbekistan = modern slavery

Here we are, cotton harvesting is on the verge to begin in Uzbekistan. That's the occasion to briefly present this unknown industry which involves more than one million people over there.

The particular thing with the cotton harvesting in Uzbekistan is that the government isn't only blind or unconcerned, as it is in other countries : in Uzbekistan the government is a part of the system ! Indeed it forcibly mobilises children from secondary schools (15 to 18-year-olds) and adults, because the economic benefits are huge (about 1 billion euros, which is huge, when we now that its GDP is only 40 billion for 30 million inhabitants). In 2012, the Uzbek government forced over a million of its own citizens, children and adults – including its teachers, doctors, and nurses – to harvest cotton in abusive conditions on threat of punishment.

Officially children are not supposed to work if they're under 15, but some NGOs explained that some of them are not older than 11. Employees of hospitals and students of colleges were forced to sign documents stating that they will pick cotton “voluntarily”. There were reports of teachers showing up on the doorsteps of students with a police presence demanding that students to go to the fields or pay fines. Owners of private businesses were given the alternative of sending their staff to the fields or paying to employ someone to pick cotton in their place.

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