Originally published on the CGS blog on January 6, 2016.
When most people think of human trafficking, they think of sexual slavery. This is understandable, given the public awareness campaigns, films, and documentaries that highlight the sex trade. Sex trafficking is a valid concern, especially considering issues like child pornography.
However, the vast majority of human trafficking occurs in forced labor situations, as reported by the International Labour Organization. Labor trafficking occurs in nearly every sector, from fishing boats in Thailand to cocoa plantations in Côte d’Ivoire. Slavery taints every kind of product, whether food, clothes, or electronics.
One of the most pressing labor trafficking issues in the world takes place in Uzbekistan’s cotton industry. Uzbekistan ranked as a Tier 2 Watch List country on last year’s Trafficking in Persons Report from the U.S. State Department. The report found:
In 2014, despite a central government-decree banning all participation of those under age 18 in the cotton harvest, local officials mobilized children in some districts. In addition, across much of the country, third-year college and lyceum students continued to be mobilized, an unknown number of whom were not yet 18 years old. Some independent observers alleged that the decreased use of child labor was counterbalanced by an increase in the government’s mobilization of adult forced labor to harvest cotton in 2014.
The State Department’s ranking was not without controversy, as labor activists protested that the country had not done enough to improve the situation. Human rights organizations have monitored abuses within Uzbekistan’s cotton fields for years. In 2010, Human Rights Watch submitted a memorandum expressing serious concern about the prevalence of child labor in the cotton fields. In addition to child labor, there have also been reports of intimidation and harassment towards adult workers.
With such a well-documented problem, why has forced labor persisted in Uzbekistan? First, the country remains the fourth largest supplier of cotton in the world. Uzbekistan’s national economy relies heavily on the cotton industry, and cotton is used in countless products around the world. Though strides have been made in the last several years for corporations to be more transparent in their supply chains, Anti-Slavery International points out that, “no brand can say with certainty that Uzbek cotton isn’t used at some point in their supply chain.” Without economic pressure, there is little incentive to reform the industry.
Second, political pressure has been light on the Uzbek government as well. Reuters reported last month that
U.S. policymakers have struggled for two decades to balance concern about Uzbekistan’s human rights record with the need to maintain relations with hard-line President Islam Karimov…[Secretary of State] Kerry spoke of ‘shared interests,’ especially combating Islamic extremism, but his references to human rights were oblique.
With counterterrorism efforts dominating international dialogue, it is difficult to ascertain how foreign governments may press for improved enforcement within Uzbekistan.
