Human Trafficking in [Uzbekistan Street Children in [Uzbekistan] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Uzbekistan] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery In the early years of the
21st Century - 2000 to 2010 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Uzbekistan.htm
Uzbekistan is a source country for
women and girls trafficked to the UAE, India, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkey,
Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, and Israel for the purpose
of commercial sexual exploitation. Men are trafficked to Kazakhstan and
Russia for the purpose of forced labor in the construction, cotton, and
tobacco industries. Men and women are trafficked internally for the purposes
of domestic servitude, forced labor, in the agricultural and construction
industries, and for commercial sexual exploitation. Some girls are also
trafficked internally for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Many
school-age children, college students, and faculty are forced to pick cotton
during the annual harvest. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons
Report, June, 2009 [full country report] |
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CAUTION: The following links have been culled
from the web to illuminate the situation in Uzbekistan. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** The Curse of Cotton: International Crisis Group, [accessed 16 January 2011] The economics of Central Asian
cotton are simple and exploitative.
Millions of the rural poor work for little or no reward growing and
harvesting the crop. Forced and child
labor and other abuses are common.
Schoolchildren are still regularly required to spend up to two months
in the cotton fields in Uzbekistan.
Despite official denials, child labor is still in use in Tajikistan
and Turkmenistan. Students in all
three countries must miss their classes to pick cotton. Little attention is
paid to the conditions in which children and students work. Every year some
fall ill or die. Women do much of the
hard manual labor in cotton fields, and reap almost none of the benefits.
Cash wages are minimal, and often paid late or not
at all. ***
ARCHIVES *** The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on the Worst Forms
of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/uzbekistan.htm [accessed 16 January 2011] INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Children are engaged in prostitution in CHILD
LABOR LAWS AND ENFORCEMENT - The Penal Code prohibits the recruitment of children for the
purposes of sexual exploitation, with higher penalties for taking children
out of the country. In 2003, the
government prosecuted 101 people for trafficking-related crimes; as of
February 2004 there had been 80 convictions. Human Rights Reports » 2005
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61684.htm [accessed 16 January 2011] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS –
Traffickers operating within nightclubs, restaurants, or prostitution rings
solicited women, many of whom had engaged in prostitution. In large cities
such as Tashkent and Samarkand, traffickers used
newspaper advertisements for marriage and fraudulent work opportunities
abroad to lure victims. Travel agencies promising tour packages and work in
Turkey, Thailand, and the UAE were also used for solicitation. In most cases
traffickers confiscated travel documents once the women reached the
destination country. Victims of labor trafficking were typically recruited in
local regions and driven to Kazakhstan or Russia where they were often sold
to "employers." Traffickers held victims in a form of debt bondage,
particularly in the case of those trafficked for sexual exploitation. Recruiters tended to live in the
same neighborhood as the potential victim and often may even have known the
victim. These recruiters introduced future victims to the actual traffickers,
who provided transportation, airline tickets, visas, and instructions about
meeting a contact in the destination country. Uzbeks Prey to Modern Slave Trade Times of Central Asia, iwpr.net/report-news/uzbeks-prey-modern-slave-trade [accessed 16 January 2011] When Abror,
an unemployed engineer at the locomotive depot in Urgench,
in northwest In spite of his grim experience in
Volgograd, Abror plans to hire himself out again
this spring to repay this debt. “Once
it gets warm, I’ll sell myself into slavery again,” he said. “What else can I
do? Otherwise, my family of four will be left to live off my sick mother’s
pension.” Two Uzbekistani Agents arrested in Human Trafficking case At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 12 September 2011] The warrant stated that they are
wanted on charges relating to human trafficking involving Uzbekistan Woman
who are lured to Cotton Carries Heavy Cost For
Uzbek Students Ozoda Rakhmatullayeva,
freelance journalist in www.eurasianet.org/departments/civilsociety/articles/eav012005.shtml [accessed 16 January 2011] University students forced to pick
cotton during The Curse of Cotton: International Crisis Group, [accessed 16 January 2011] The economics of Central Asian
cotton are simple and exploitative.
Millions of the rural poor work for little or no reward growing and
harvesting the crop. Forced and child
labor and other abuses are common.
Schoolchildren are still regularly required to spend up to two months
in the cotton fields in Uzbekistan.
Despite official denials, child labor is still in use in Tajikistan
and Turkmenistan. Students in all
three countries must miss their classes to pick cotton. Little attention is
paid to the conditions in which children and students work. Every year some
fall ill or die. Women do much of the
hard manual labor in cotton fields, and reap almost none of the benefits.
Cash wages are minimal, and often paid late or not
at all. Defining Rights, Finding a Voice Institute for War & Peace Reporting IWPR staff - The
Women’s Reporting & Dialogue Programme, WPR
Issue 16, 16 Dec 2005 iwpr.net/report-news/defining-rights-finding-voice [accessed 16 January 2011] Conservative agendas have also
dominated. In Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, for instance, the authorities have
restored community institutions such as the mahalla
- a traditional form of self-government - and the court of elders. Conservative
male institutions such as this can have a dramatically damaging effect on
women’s rights. Mahalla committees have sweeping powers
to decide who will receive funds for social assistance, giving them
significant leverage over families within their neighbourhood.
With mahalla committees sometimes
using this to pressure families, usually women and children. Once
consequence of this is that women with political ambitions sometimes lose
state benefits. Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 7 Civil Liberties: 7 Status: Not Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=363&year=2009&country=7731 [accessed 16 January 2011] Human Rights Overview Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org/europecentral-asia/uzbekistan [accessed 16 January 2011] Stop Violence Against Women – Country Page The Advocates for Human Rights, October 2008 [accessed 16 January 2011] Library of Congress Call Number DK851 .K34 1997 lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/uztoc.html [accessed 16 January 2011] Embassy of the At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 12 September 2011] The meeting brought together Uzbek
officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Internal Affairs,
Prosecutor’s General, as well as Uzbek diplomatic representatives to foreign
countries with officials from Israel, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Ukraine,
South Korea, China, and the UAE. The IOM has determined that these
countries are the most common destinations for Uzbek victims of human
trafficking. The goal of the meeting was to establish effective
mechanisms for returning and providing assistance to trafficking victims. 179 Victims of Trafficking Rescued in Uzbekistan Radio Free Europe/Radio At one time this article had been archived and may possibly
still be accessible [here]
[accessed 12 September 2011] The project successfully helped
many victims return to their homes from abroad. Reportedly, many Uzbeks are
currently victims of human trafficking and are being employed as “virtual
slaves” in Russia. Many victims report that the majority of individuals
associated with the gangs who victimize so many Uzbeks desperate for work,
are themselves Uzbeks. Child labour and the High Street BBC News, 30 October 2007 news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/7068096.stm [accessed 16 January 2011] As part of a special report we
filmed children in Report to the Congress: At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 12 September 2011] OSCE
FIELD MISSIONS - CENTRAL ASIA: Special report on human trafficking UN Integrated Regional Information Networks IRIN, At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 12 September 2011] Men were mostly trafficked to
Russia as labourers, whereas almost all the women
were trafficked for sexual exploitation, she said. In an effort to tackle the
issue, the NGO had opened a hotline and had been receiving calls from parents
of young women who went abroad and subsequently fell prey to criminal groups.
She added that the NGO was receiving at least 300 calls a month, many
directly from victims of trafficking. All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE
RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES.
Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Human Trafficking
& Modern-day Slavery - |
Human Trafficking in [Uzbekistan Street Children in [Uzbekistan] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Uzbekistan] [other countries]