“We Can’t Refuse to Pick Cotton” Forced and Child Labor Linked to World Bank Group Investments in Uzbekistan HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH “We Can’t Refuse to Pick Cotton” Forced and Child Labor Linked to World Bank Group Investments in Uzbekistan Copyright © 2017 Human Rights Watch/Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 978-1-6231-34891 Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people worldwide. We scrupulously investigate abuses, expose the facts widely, and pressure those with power to respect rights and secure justice. Human Rights Watch is an independent, international organization that works as part of a vibrant movement to uphold human dignity and advance the cause of human rights for all. Human Rights Watch is an international organization with staff in more than 40 countries, and offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Goma, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Nairobi, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Tunis, Washington DC, and Zurich. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.hrw.org The Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights is a German-based nongovernmental organization dedicated to improving the human rights situation in Uzbekistan and strengthening and promoting civil society. The Uzbek-German Forum was established and registered in Berlin in July 2008 as a joint venture between Uzbeks and Germans to strengthen human rights advocacy through engagement with European institutions. The goal of the organization is to put an end to human rights abuses in Uzbekistan by building the capacity of local human rights groups. For more information, please visit our website: http://uzbekgermanforum.org JUNE 2017 ISBN: 978-1-6231-34891 “We Can’t Refuse to Pick Cotton” Forced and Child Labor Linked to World Bank Group Investments in Uzbekistan Map of Key Findings in World Bank South Karakalpakston Project Area ............................... I Map of World Bank Agriculture and Irrigation Projects in Uzbekistan .................................. II Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations ................................................................................. IV Summary ........................................................................................................................... 1 The World Bank’s Unsuccessful “Mitigation” of Forced Labor .................................................... 5 Threats and Reprisals Against Human Rights Defenders ........................................................... 9 The Way Forward for the Government of Uzbekistan ................................................................ 11 The Way Forward for the World Bank, International Finance Corporation .................................. 11 Recommendations ............................................................................................................ 13 To the World Bank .................................................................................................................. 13 To the International Finance Corporation (IFC) ......................................................................... 14 To the World Bank Group Board of Executive Directors ............................................................ 14 To the Government of Uzbekistan ........................................................................................... 14 To the International Labour Organization (ILO) ........................................................................ 15 To Indorama and Other Textile Companieps Operating in Uzbekistan ...................................... 16 To Commercial Banks Operating in Uzbekistan ....................................................................... 17 Methodology .................................................................................................................... 18 I. Uzbekistan’s Cotton System and the World Bank ........................................................... 22 Uzbekistan’s Cotton System, Forced Labor, and Past Concerns of Widespread Child Labor ...... 22 World Bank and Uzbekistan .................................................................................................... 30 II. Evidence of Forced and Child Labor and Links to World Bank Group Projects ................. 33 A. Ongoing Evidence of Systematic Forced Labor and Continuing Child Labor in Uzbekistan’s Cotton Sector ......................................................................................................................... 35 B. Forced and Child Labor in Beruni, Ellikkala, and Turtkul, Karakalpakstan ............................. 57 III. Impact on education .................................................................................................... 75 Falsifying attendance to hide forced labor ............................................................................... 76 Disruptions to Colleges ........................................................................................................... 77 Undermining Quality of Schools .............................................................................................. 77 IV. Reprisals against Human Rights Defenders, Forced Laborers, and Complainants ......... 80 Detention of and Reprisals against Human Rights Defenders and Journalists Monitoring Forced Labor Practices ...................................................................................................................... 80 Reprisals against Complainants .............................................................................................. 87 V. World Bank Failures ...................................................................................................... 89 Response to Forced Labor in World Bank Project Areas ........................................................... 89 World Bank’s Emphasis on Horticulture, Despite Emerging Signs of Forced Labor .................. 100 Inadequate Measures to Prevent, Respond to Reprisals ........................................................ 101 VI. International Finance Corporation Failures ................................................................. 103 Complaint Filed Against IFC Investments ............................................................................... 105 VII. Human Rights Standards ........................................................................................... 107 International and Uzbek Labor Standards ............................................................................. 107 World Bank Group’s Human Rights Obligations ..................................................................... 112 Companies’ Human Rights Responsibilities .......................................................................... 114 Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................... 115 Appendix I: Letter of warning to Farmers .......................................................................... 116 Appendix II: Contract Amendment ................................................................................... 118 Appendix III: Ledgers ..................................................................................................... 120 Appendix IV: Monitoring Report ...................................................................................... 122 QORAO'ZAK Key Findings in World Bank SouthKARAKALPAKSTAN Karakalpakstan Project Area AMUDARYO ELLIKKALA BERUNI Borlytau Kuikcha Alga bas Dzhambaskala Akchakul Buston Navruz Qumbosgan Makhtumkuli GuldursunGuldursun Beruni UrazbaiaulUrazbaiaul Sarabii TURTKUL Dustlik ShurakhanUzbekiston Turtkul KHOREZM Miskin Farming areas comprised of District administrative centers South Karakalpakstan Water Resources several farms of varying sizes TURKMENISTAN Management Improvement Project In the farming areas indicated, the Uzbek-German Ellikkala district: Forum and Human Rights Watch found: • In the farming areas indicated, some schools ordered children as young • Public sector workers, including education and healthcare workers forced as 12 to pick cotton after school in 2016 to pick cotton in fall 2015 and 2016 under threat of penalty, usually • Law enforcement detained and threatened the adult daughter of a UGF dismissal monitor from a eld in Borlytau • Third-year college students (18 years old) forced to pick cotton for two months for overnight shifts in 2015 and daily shifts in 2016 under threat of academic penalty, including expulsion Turtkul district: • Some first and second-year college students (16 and 17 years old) sent to • In October 2016, SNB ocers detained an independent monitor who was pick cotton on weekends under threat of academic penalty, including researching labor abuses in cotton elds benetting from the World Bank expulsion in 2015 and 2016 irrigation project • Local government officials, including tax authorities, coerced public • In the farming areas indicated, children weeded elds in spring 2016 sector workers and students to plant and weed cotton fields in May and June 2016 for no pay • Colleges assigned responsibility for cotton production, which led to use of child labor in 2015 Beruni district, in the farming areas indicated: • Mahalla council employees forced each family receiving child or welfare • Some schools ordered children as young as 12 to pick cotton after benefits to send one family member, in some cases children, to pick school in 2016