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The Committee notes the Government’s first report. It also notes the communication of the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) dated 26 August 2009.

Articles 3 and 7, paragraph 1, of the Convention. Worst forms of child labour and sanctions. Clauses (a) and (d). Forced or compulsory labour in cotton production and hazardous work. In its comments under the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention (No. 105), the Committee had previously noted the observations made by the Council of the Trade Unions Confederation of Uzbekistan, communicated by the Government with its 2004 report, which contained allegations concerning practices of the mobilization and use of labour for purposes of economic development in agriculture (cotton production), in which public sector workers, school children and university students are involved. In this regard, the Committee notes that the IOE confirms that the legal framework against the use of forced labour exists in Uzbekistan but that, despite this fact, there are continued reports by non-governmental organizations and the media denouncing the systemic and persistent use of forced labour, including forced child labour, in the cotton fields of Uzbekistan.

The Committee notes the allegation of the IOE that the mass mobilization of children was one of the characteristics of cotton production during the Soviet regime. Referring to several reports, the IOE indicates that, every year, hundreds of thousands of Uzbek school children are forced by the Government of Uzbekistan to work in the national harvest for up to three months. Estimates of the number of children forced to participate in the cotton harvest range from half a million to 1.5 million school children in grades 5 to 11. The IOE further reports that forced labour has a substantial negative impact upon the education of the country’s rural school children. Rural children are said to lag behind their urban peers in schooling, due to participation in the cotton harvest.

In this regard, the Committee notes that, in its concluding observations of 24 January 2006 (E/C.12/UZB/CO/1, paragraph 20), the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights expressed its concern about the persistent reports on the situation of school-age children obliged to participate in the cotton harvest every year who, for that reason, do not attend school during this period. The Committee also notes the concern expressed by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, in its concluding observations of 2 June 2006 (CRC/C/UZB/CO/2, paragraphs 64–65), about the involvement of the very many school-age children in the harvesting of cotton, which results in serious health problems such as intestinal and respiratory infections, meningitis and hepatitis. The Committee on the Rights of the Child therefore urged the Government to take all the necessary measures to ensure that the involvement of school-aged children in cotton harvesting is in full compliance with the international child labour standards, inter alia, in terms of their age, their working hours, their working conditions, their education and their health.

The Committee notes the Government’s information that article 37 of the Constitution of Uzbekistan directly prohibits any compulsory labour and that article 45 of the Constitution contains state guarantees of protection of the rights and interests of children. The Committee notes that section 7 of the Labour Code prohibits forced labour, i.e. the obligation to perform work under menace of applying any penalty (including as a means to maintain labour discipline). It further notes that section 138 of the Criminal Code provides that the forceful illegal deprivation of liberty shall be punished with a fine of up to 50 minimum monthly wages or correctional labour or imprisonment of up to three years. The same action committed with the placement of a victim in conditions endangering their life or health shall be punished with imprisonment from three to five years. Furthermore, the Committee notes that, pursuant to section 241 of the Labour Code prohibiting the employment of persons under 18 years of age in work in unfavourable conditions and work which may harm their health, safety or morality, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection (MoLSP) and the Ministry of Health, in consultation with the social partners, adopted the “List of occupations with unfavourable working conditions in which it is forbidden to employ persons under 18 years of age” of 30 May 2001, which provides that children under 18 years of age are forbidden from watering and gathering cotton by hand. In this regard, the Committee notes that section 49 of the Administrative Responsibility Code provides that an infraction of labour and occupational safety legislation shall entail a fine of from two to five times the minimum wage.

The Committee expresses its serious concern at the situation of children who, every year, are taken from school for up to three months and made to work in the cotton fields in hazardous conditions. It observes that, although national legislation appears to prohibit forced labour and hazardous work in cotton production, this remains a serious issue of concern in practice. The Committee refers to the Universal Periodic Review of Uzbekistan of 9 March 2009 (A/HRC/10/83, paragraph 106(8) and (27)), in which, in response to the recommendations that Uzbekistan do its utmost to eliminate forced child labour, intensify its efforts to effectively implement the national legislation and stop the practice of sending school-age children to participate in the harvesting of cotton, the Government indicated that measures are already being implemented or have already been implemented and will further be considered. In this regard, the Committee recalls that, by virtue of Article 3(a) and (d) of the Convention, forced labour and hazardous work are considered as worst forms of child labour and that, by virtue of Article 1 of the Convention, member States are required to take immediate and effective measures to secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, as a matter of urgency. Furthermore, the Committee recalls that, by virtue of Article 7(1), of the Convention, ratifying countries are required to ensure the effective implementation and enforcement of the provisions giving effect to the Convention, including through the provision and application of penal sanctions.

The Committee therefore strongly urges the Government to take effective and time-bound measures to eradicate the forced labour of, or hazardous work by, children under 18 years in cotton production, as a matter of urgency. In this regard, it requests the Government to take immediate measures to ensure that thorough investigations and robust prosecutions of offenders are carried out and that effective and sufficiently dissuasive sanctions are imposed in practice. It requests the Government to provide information on the progress made in this regard in its next report.

Article 6. Action programmes. National Action Plan (NPA) for the application of ILO Conventions Nos 138 and 182. The Committee notes that, according to the IOE, in September 2008, the Uzbek Prime Minister signed a decree that bans child labour in cotton plantations in Uzbekistan and approves a NPA to eradicate child labour. In this regard, the Committee notes that the NPA for the application of ILO Conventions Nos 138 and 182 includes the following paragraphs on activities specifically regarding the forced labour of children, in particular in the agricultural sector:

(a)   Monitoring and control of the prohibition of the use of pupils of schools of general education, vocational colleges and academic lyceums, in forced labour (paragraph 12).

(b)   Public control of the prohibition of the use of forced child labour in territories of self-governing bodies of citizens (paragraph 14).

(c)   Establishing a working group to monitor locally the prohibition of the use of forced labour in cotton picking of pupils in schools of general education, including public schools, and submitting analytical information to the Cabinet on the results of this monitoring (paragraph 20).

(d)   Acceptance of a joint statement on the inadmissibility of the use of forced child labour in agricultural works by the Association of Farm Entities, the Council of Federation of trade unions in Uzbekistan and the MoLSP (paragraph 29).

(e)   Informing farmers on matters relating to the prohibition of violating legislation on the engagement of children in agricultural works (paragraph 33).

While noting the measures enumerated in the framework of the NPA for the application of ILO Conventions Nos 138 and 182, the Committee notes the allegation of the IOE according to which it remains uncertain if the implementation of these recently adopted measures will be sufficient to address the deeply rooted practice of forced child labour in the cotton fields. The Committee urges the Government to take immediate measures to ensure that the activities envisaged in the abovementioned NPA pertaining to the prohibition and elimination of the use of forced child labour in the agricultural sector are effectively implemented, as a matter of urgency, and to provide information on the results achieved.

In this regard, the Committee invites the Government to avail itself of ILO technical assistance on the assessment to be made on the effective implementation of the NPA for the application of ILO Conventions Nos 138 and 182.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.

[The Government is asked to supply full particulars to the Conference at its 99th Session and to reply in detail to the present comments in 2010.]