ILO Experts Committee Urged to Observe Forced Labor in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan

Today the Cotton Campaign submitted to the International Labour Organization (ILO) Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR) evidence of violations of the ILO Convention No. 105 on the Abolition of Forced Labour by the governments of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Annually, the CEACR publishes an assessment of ILO member states' application of international labor conventions, based on information received, typically through August of the prior year. Throughout the reporting period for the next CEACR report, the governments of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan forced farmers to fulfill production quotas and other citizens to fulfill harvest quotas, under threat of penalty and in violation of ILO Convention No. 105 on the Abolition of Forced Labour. The reports present evidence of the Uzbek and Turkmen government-orchestrated systems of forced labour that was gathered by independent human rights monitors in each country.

Read the reports here:

Report to the International Labour Organization Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations concerning the Government of Uzbekistan’s Non-Compliance with ILO Convention No. 105 on Abolition of Forced Labour (ratified 1997), 25 August 2015

Report to the International Labour Organization Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations concerning the Government of Turkmenistan’s Non-Compliance with ILO Convention No. 105 on Abolition of Forced Labour (ratified 1997), 25 August 2015