Uzbekistan’s acting president Shavkat Mirziyoyev has ratified the International Labor Organization’s Convention No. 87, formally recognizing freedoms of association and the protection of the right to organize, according to EurasiaNet.org.
Tashkent’s prior resistance to adopting the convention has been linked to repressive practices in the country’s cotton industry, which involves the forcible annual mobilization of state workers for weeks of grueling labor in the fields during harvest season.
On the face of it, Uzbekistan adoption of this international standard fits into Tashkent’s ongoing charm offensive following the death of President Islam Karimov in September. The government has been working hard in recent years to persuade the international community that it is attempting to address some of its more unsavory practices.
Still, the significance of a largely bureaucratic move should not be overstated before results are seen and Karimov’s passing was likely only incidental to the development. Uzbekistan’s adoption of Convention No. 87 has been a few years in arriving. Tashkent signed a memorandum of understanding with the ILO in April 2014 committing it in principle to ratification this year.
In July, even prior to Karimov’s death, Mirziyoyev told a government meeting that during this year’s cotton harvest campaign, no school or university students were to be sent out into the fields. The remarks were intended in part to salve the concerns of the ILO, which is now implementing an inspection regime designed to detect abuses. But there is strong evidence to suggest that despite those exhortations, many students were press-ganged into cotton-picking all the same.
One actual achievement has been to greatly curtail the much-criticized practice of deploying children during harvest time. But that has had the effect of transferring the burden onto adults, many of whom do not work in the agricultural sector.
Indeed, advocacy groups pushing for the eradication of abuses in Uzbekistan’s cotton industry insist not just on adoption of international conventions, but also on their implementation. The former without the latter would patently be mere public relations and deception.
To-date, China has invested over $5 billion in Tajikistan's energy sector.
Mother of ex-police officer serving life in prison for banker’s murder sentenced to 13 years in prison on corruption charges
Pakistani PM calls for enhanced trade and connectivity with Tajikistan
Tajikistan, Pakistan, sign nine cooperation documents
Tajikistan, Pakistan vow to strengthen their diplomatic and economic ties
Five Tajik men deported from Russia appear in pretrial detention facility in Tajikistan
Tajikistan and KfW Development Bank sign an agreement on construction of TB hospital in Kulob
UN head hopes Kyrgyz-Tajik border issues will be resolved peacefully
Rahmon receives Swiss foreign and finance ministers and Swiss national bank head
Tajik leader receives WB vice-president and IFC vice president to discuss cooperation
All news
Авторизуйтесь, пожалуйста