[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 99 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 99

 Expressing the sense of the Senate that the Government of Uzbekistan 
   should immediately enforce its existing domestic legislation and 
 fulfill its international commitments aimed at ending state-sponsored 
                        forced and child labor.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 2, 2009

 Mr. Harkin (for himself, Mr. Sanders, and Mr. Bingaman) submitted the 
 following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                               Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the Senate that the Government of Uzbekistan 
   should immediately enforce its existing domestic legislation and 
 fulfill its international commitments aimed at ending state-sponsored 
                        forced and child labor.

Whereas the United States has a growing strategic involvement in Central Asia;
Whereas the interests of the United States in Central Asia, including the 
        operations in Afghanistan, can only be secured by the presence in the 
        region of viable, vigorous democracies that fully guarantee the economic 
        and social rights of all people, including children;
Whereas the Government of Uzbekistan continues to commit serious human rights 
        abuses, including arbitrary arrest and detention, torture in custody, 
        and the severe restriction of freedom of speech, the press, religion, 
        independent political activity, and nongovernmental organizations;
Whereas the Government of Uzbekistan detains thousands of people for political 
        or religious reasons;
Whereas Uzbekistan is the third largest exporter of cotton in the world, and 
        cotton is 1 of the largest sources of export revenue for Uzbekistan;
Whereas Uzbekistan has signed and properly deposited with the International 
        Labour Organization (ILO) the Minimum Age Convention, convened at Geneva 
        June 6, 1973 (International Labour Organization Convention Number 138), 
        and the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, convened at Geneva June 
        1, 1999 (International Labour Organization Convention Number 182);
Whereas the Government of Uzbekistan issued a decree in September 2008 that 
        ostensibly prohibited the practice of forced and child labor, but the 
        Government of Uzbekistan sent schoolchildren to harvest cotton within 
        weeks after issuing the decree;
Whereas the 2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices by the Department of 
        State stated that large-scale compulsory mobilization of youth and 
        students to harvest cotton continued in most rural areas of Uzbekistan 
        and that the students and youths were poorly paid, living conditions 
        were poor, and children were exposed to harmful chemicals and pesticides 
        applied in the cotton fields;
Whereas research by the Environmental Justice Foundation indicates that each 
        year hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren from Uzbekistan, some as 
        young as 7 years old, are forced by the Government of Uzbekistan to work 
        in the national cotton harvest for up to 3 months;
Whereas a policy briefing published by the School of Oriental and African 
        Studies, University of London, in 2008, entitled ``Invisible to the 
        World'', used extrapolations based on surveys in 6 areas that took place 
        in 2006 and 2007 to conclude that approximately 2,400,000 schoolchildren 
        from Uzbekistan between the ages of 10 and 15 are forcibly recruited 
        into the annual cotton harvest;
Whereas the British Broadcasting Company undertook an investigation in late 2007 
        and found that the Government of Uzbekistan continues to rely on the 
        state-orchestrated mass mobilization of children to bring in the cotton 
        harvest;
Whereas, in 2008, reports of child labor in the cotton fields were received by 
        multiple media outlets and local human rights activists from the major 
        cotton-growing regions in Uzbekistan, including Djizzak, Namangan, 
        Samarkand, and Ferghana, among others;
Whereas a report by the Rapid Reaction Group indicates that schoolchildren who 
        cannot fulfill their daily picking quotas are forced to make up the 
        difference in cash from the pockets of their own families;
Whereas the Government of Uzbekistan detained and harassed an independent 
        journalist who accompanied a diplomat from the United States on a 
        research trip to Syr Daria province, where the diplomat photographed 
        children working in the cotton fields;
Whereas the children working in the cotton fields are stressed by the pressure 
        to fulfill cotton quotas, physically abused by arduous work in the 
        cotton fields, and subjected to poor and hazardous living conditions 
        during the harvest period;
Whereas international brands such as Gap, H&M, Levi Strauss, Limited Brands, 
        Target, Tesco, and Wal-Mart have banned cotton from Uzbekistan from 
        their products and instructed their suppliers to comply with the ban;
Whereas the Government of Uzbekistan allowed a survey to be conducted by the 
        United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), under the strict supervision of 
        the Government of Uzbekistan, yet the survey was not conducted during 
        the fall harvest season (a time when the likelihood of children working 
        in the fields is significantly greater);
Whereas the Government of Uzbekistan refused to fully cooperate with the ILO and 
        the International Cotton Advisory Committee to undertake an independent 
        technical assessment of forced child labor during the fall 2008 harvest 
        season; and
Whereas the ILO has conducted independent investigations into forced and child 
        labor in more than 60 countries around the world, including developing 
        and developed countries: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the Government of 
Uzbekistan should--
            (1) immediately enforce its existing domestic legislation 
        and fulfill its international commitments aimed at ending 
        state-sponsored forced and child labor;
            (2) allow a comprehensive independent investigation into 
        forced and child labor in the cotton sector during the fall 
        2009 harvest season by the International Labour Organization;
            (3) in consultation and cooperation with the International 
        Labour Organization, develop a credible and comprehensive 
        action plan based on the findings of the International Labour 
        Organization and commit the resources necessary to end forced 
        and child labor in the cotton sector; and
            (4) take concrete steps towards systemic reform that will--
                    (A) ensure greater freedom and better returns from 
                their labor for cotton-producing farmers; and
                    (B) enable such farmers to employ adults in the 
                cotton sector.
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