ILRF_LetterToSecClintonReUzbekistanTIPReport2011.pdf: 34 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

International Labor Rights Forum

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June 28, 2011 
 
Honorable Hillary Clinton 
Secretary of State 
US Department of State 
Washington, DC 20520 
 
Dear Secretary Clinton, 
 
We represent a broad spectrum of stakeholders that share a continued concern over the 
widespread use of forced child labor in the cotton sector in Uzbekistan.  We thank you and 
your staff for your attention to this issue in recent years, and for the very helpful reporting 
on this issue in the annual Human Rights Report and the Trafficking in Persons Report. 
 
We were disappointed to note that despite strong language in the interim report, the annual 
Trafficking in Persons Report, issued today, fails to downgrade Uzbekistan to Tier 3, 
despite the clearly documented and egregious nature of the country’s state-sanctioned and 
widespread use of forced child labor.  Representatives from our stakeholder coalition met 
with Ambassador CdeBaca and his staff on May 26.  We understood that in order for a 
country to remain on the Tier 2 Watch list, the State Department would require credible 
evidence that the country had a written plan that, if implemented, would demonstrate 
significant effort and dedication of resources to this problem.  In this case, there appears to 
be no such evidence. 
 
The only development of note was the government’s initiative announced in April 2011 to 
form another inter-ministerial working group to focus on child labor issues, but our 
assessment is that this is purely a gesture designed to avoid a downgrade to Tier III rather 
than a genuine effort to actually address the problem. This view is very much in line with 
the conclusions reached earlier this month by the authoritative international body in this 
field, the ILO Committee on the Application of Standards. After discussions at the annual 
International Labor Conference (ILC), the Committee reported that: 
 
“While noting the establishment of a tripartite interministerial working group on 25 
March 2011, the Committee observed that the Committee of Experts had already 
noted the establishment of an earlier interdepartmental working group on 7 June 
2010, for on-the-ground monitoring to prevent the use of forced labour by school 
children during the cotton harvest. It noted with regret the absence of information 
from the Government on the concrete results of this monitoring, particularly 
information on the number of children, if any, detected by this interdepartmental 
working group (or any other national monitoring mechanism) engaged to work 
during the cotton harvest. In this regard, the Committee regretted to note that the 
significant progress that had been made regarding economic reform and growth had 
not been accompanied by corresponding progress with regard to combating the use 
of children for cotton harvesting.  The Committee expressed its serious concern at 
the insufficient political will and the lack of transparency of the Government to 
address the issue of forced child labour in cotton harvesting.” 
 
At the ILC, the representative of Uzbekistan acknowledged that his government has a 
significant credibility problem on the issue of child labor.  It is for this reason that we have 
long argued that only by allowing a tripartite ILO mission to visit Uzbekistan during the 
harvest period can the government in Tashkent truly demonstrate its will to address the 
problem.  Since the administration chose not to downgrade Uzbekistan this year, despite 
the Uzbek government’s continued rejection of any ILO engagement, we urge the 
administration to make clear to the Uzbek government that full cooperation with the ILO, 
including acceptance of an ILO mission, is the minimum requirement for it to avoid being 
downgraded to Tier III in the next Trafficking in Persons report. 
 
 
Thank you for your attention to our concerns and for your leadership on this issue. 
 
Sincerely, 
 
 
American Apparel and Footwear 
Association (AAFA) 
 
American Federation of Labor and 
Congress of Industrial Organizations 
(AFL-CIO) 
 
American Federation of Teachers 
 
Calvert Investments 
 
Center for Reflection, Education and 
Action (CREA) 
 
Child Labor Coalition 
 
GlobalWorks Foundation 
 
Human Rights Watch 
 
International Labor Rights Forum 
 
Media Voices for Children 
 
National Consumers League 
 
National Retail Federation 
 
Not for Sale Campaign 
 
Open Society Foundations 
 
 
Responsible Sourcing Network 
 
Retail Industry Leaders’ Association 
 
Solidarity Center 
 
United States Association of Importers of 
Textile and Apparel (USA-ITA) 


Letter To Secretary Clinton Regarding Uzbekistan in the 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report

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https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2039&amp;context=globaldocs

Letter To Secretary Clinton Regarding Uzbekistan in the 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report

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