Labor Abuses In Uzbekistan's Cotton Fields

A “Cotton Contract” is shown from the 2011 harvest. The “contract” obligates the signer to participate in the harvest, with punishment for “not fulfilling the commands,” including meeting a daily quota.

A child picks cotton in September 2012, Suyima Pakhtakor, Jizzakh.

Boy picking cotton, October 2012

A woman who identified herself as a teacher picks cotton in Jizzakh Province on September 25, 2012.

Students, ages 16 to 18, from the Transportation College of Tashkent sent to pick cotton in the Komil district of Jizzakh Province play volleyball in front of the barracks where they will stay until their quota is fully harvested. Refusing participation is not an option; students are threatened with expulsion from school.

The College of Construction and Communal Services, Tashkent region, is closed for the cotton harvest. Students age 16 and up attend these “colleges.”

Defoliants are sprayed while workers harvest cotton nearby.

A typical barracks adjacent to the cotton fields where adults and children live during the cotton harvest. Workers sleep on the floors and in many cases do not have access to potable water.

At each cotton field, like this one in Tashkent Province, police are present or notified if anyone comes to take photos or interview people. The authorities frequently harass Uzbek human rights defenders when they try to monitor the cotton harvest.