Cornell: Labor conditions in Tajikistan cotton industry

The report states that this August 2007 research report, conducted by the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) and the Tajikistan Social Institute for Youth and Civilization with Open Society Institute support, documents systematic forced and child labour in Tajikistan’s cotton industry. Researchers surveyed 101 students and analysed contracts signed between administrators and students at four state universities — TSULBP, TSUC, KSU and KBTUT — for the 2006–2007 school year regarding state mandates for cotton harvesting. The report states that at the time Tajikistan had a population of 6.3 million, with nearly half under 14 years of age, and was emerging from a five-year civil war (1992–1997) that resulted in nearly 50,000 deaths and 500,000 displaced. The report states that while Tajikistan’s Labour Code, Civil Code, Constitution and ratified UN and ILO conventions — including the Conventions on Forced Labour (1930), Abolition of Forced Labour (1957), Minimum Age (1973) and Worst Forms of Child Labour (1999) — formally prohibit forced labour and restrict child work, these protections are not enforced. The report states that local authorities and school administrations continue to compulsorily involve students in an annual cotton-picking campaign described as “voluntary”. Contributing factors identified include a complex and repressive relationship among the government, investors and farmers, state-imposed production quotas with short lead times, ignorance of legal rights, lagging infrastructure, environmental degradation, and corruption.