An Uzbek human rights group concerned about the World Bank's failure to concede state control of agriculture and the extent of child labor in Uzbekistan's cotton industry has received an acknowledgement from the Bank about its concerns.
Ezgulik (Goodness), a leading civil society organization based in Tashkent with chapters in other cities, issued a report circulated via e-mail in December 2010, documenting what it saw as severe flaws in the Bank's assessments in providing the second phase of a $67.9 million loan to the government of President Islam Karimov in 2008. The non-governmental organization called for a re-evaulation of the Uzbek leadership's claims of farm reform and adherence to international agreements to prevent exploitation of children, the independent online news service fergananews.com reported.
Ezgulik's 13-page critique summarizes years of monitoring the rights of farmers and the use of child labor in Uzbekistan. The Uzbek group decided to issue an open letter and report to the Bank following unsuccessful attempts to meet with Shigeo Katsu, former vice president of the Bank's Europe and Central Asia division, who visited Uzbekistan last year to attend a summit of the Asian Development Bank
Underscoring the role of the government in violating International Labor Conventions signed in 1999, Ezgulik notes: "Our research has shown that the use of forced child labour in this sector is widespread. According to our observations, children are sent to the cotton fields to pick cotton not by their parents, but by their school administrations at the directive of the district and provincial authorities".
