[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 56 (Thursday, April 2, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4386-S4387]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   SENATE RESOLUTION 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

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

                               S. Res. 99

       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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