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Pressure grows to stop children picking cotton in Uzbekistan

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Summary of story from BBCNews, September 20, 2011

An international campaign is mounting pressure on the government of Uzbekistan to end the use of child labour during the cotton harvest.

Uzbekistan is one of the world’s leading producers and exporters of cotton, and human rights campaigners say hundreds of thousands of children are being forced to help bring in the harvest for minimal wages and under harsh, sometimes dangerous, conditions.

Protests by labour rights activists forced New York Fashion Week to cancel a fashion show by the Uzbek president’s daughter.

The Uzbek government denies that children are forced to harvest cotton and has signed up to International Labour Rights standards.

But so far it has refused to let international inspectors into the country to independently verify the progress the authorities say they have made.

Two rights activists were detained recently for photographing children picking cotton (see WVoN story).

As the picking season gets under way dozens of leading international clothing companies have pledged to avoid Uzbek produce, but industry figures admit that any boycott is difficult to put into practice because companies are unable to trace the origin of cotton in their products.

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