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March 2022

  1. © ILO 2022

    Forced and child labour

    Uzbek cotton is free from systemic child labour and forced labour

    01 March 2022

    Almost two million people are recruited every year for the annual cotton harvest in Uzbekistan. The country has succeeded in eradicating systemic forced labour and systemic child labour during the 2021 cotton production cycle, according to new ILO findings.

August 2021

  1. ILO in action

    An end to child labour and forced labour in Uzbekistan's cotton harvest

    31 August 2021

    Uzbekistan is the sixth largest producer of cotton in the world. Two million people pick the cotton every harvest. The ILO is working with the government, workers, employers and civic society to bring about an end to child labour and forced labour during the harvest.

February 2021

  1. Article

    How the ILO can support vital public employment programmes during the COVID-19 crisis

    10 February 2021

    Public employment programmes have played an increasingly important role in government responses to the COVID-19 crisis. In this article, Maikel Lieuw-Kie-Song, ILO Specialist on the Employment Intensive Investment Programme (EIIP) sheds light on new, innovative approaches being used to assist countries like Uzbekistan in supporting their PWPs during the pandemic, resulting in temporary work for almost 500,000 women and men in 2020 – nearly twice as many jobs as those created before the pandemic.

February 2020

  1. © ILO 2022

    Forced and child labour

    Forced and child labour in Uzbek cotton fields continues to fall

    05 February 2020

    Systematic and systemic child and forced labour were not used by the Uzbekistan government during the 2019 cotton production cycle, according to a new ILO report.

November 2018

  1. Forced and child labour

    Major progress on forced labour and child labour in Uzbekistan cotton fields

    22 November 2018

    International Labour Organization monitors say that forced labour during the cotton harvest in Uzbekistan has been significantly reduced. As in previous years child labour is no longer a concern.

September 2018

  1. © David Stanley 2022

    Child and forced labour

    ILO continues rigorous monitoring of Uzbekistan cotton harvest

    20 September 2018

    A statement in response to a report by Lasslett and Gstrein on the monitoring of Uzbekistan’s cotton harvest.

February 2018

  1. © Carsten ten Brink 2022

    Child labour and forced labour

    ILO reports important progress on child labour and forced labour in Uzbek cotton fields

    13 February 2018

    Monitoring team finds strong political will from central government to end fundamental labour rights’ violations during the 2017 cotton harvest: Child labour is no longer an issue, while forced labour is being systematically addressed.

December 2017

  1. © Peretz Partensky 2022

    Child labour and forced labour

    Uzbekistan ends systematic use of child labour and takes measures to end forced labour

    12 December 2017

    An ILO team monitoring the cotton harvest in Uzbekistan has found that child labour is no longer systematically used and that measures are being taken to end the use of forced labour. These conclusions were discussed at a roundtable in Tashkent.

October 2017

  1. Blog

    5 ways governments can support agriculture insurance

    09 October 2017

    Agricultural insurance can play an important role in securing farmers’ livelihoods and boosting the efficiency of the agricultural sector, but access to agricultural insurance remains low.

September 2017

  1. Blog

    How the ILO is helping to end forced labour in Uzbekistan’s cotton industry

    27 September 2017

    Nearly a quarter of the adult population in Uzbekistan take part in the country’s cotton harvest each year. Here's how the ILO is working to help end the use of forced labour during the harvest.