16, Dec 2017 | CJP Team

International Labour Organisation (ILO) monitors have found that the systematic use of child labour in Uzbekistan’s cotton harvest has ended in recent years, and action is being taken to tackle the use of forced labour as well, ILO News reported. Indications of this emerged when Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev addressed the United Nations General Assembly in September, after which steps were taken to establish a policy of voluntary recruitment for the harvest nationwide. ILO experts conducted 3,000 unaccompanied interviews with cotton pickers, local officials, and education and medical personnel during the harvest, along with a phone survey of 1,000 randomly selected individuals. Prior to the harvest the ILO also arranged training for 6,300 people involved in recruiting pickers. According to the ILO, the results verify that there is “a high level of awareness of the unacceptability of both child and forced labour”, and that “there is no systematic use of child labour”.