Complaint against cotton traders in Europe

The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) together with the Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights, Sherpa and solicitor Guido Ehrler filed seven complaints against European cotton traders buying cotton from Uzbekistan in Germany, Switzerland, France and the UK. The Swiss National Contact Point  (NCP) for the OECD has now responded to the complaint, in line with the UK NCP.

ECCHR and its partners allege that the named traders support the systematic use of forced child labour and forced labour in the Uzbek cotton harvest. 

In February, the UK NCP accepted the two complaints filed in the UK for further examination. The Swiss NCP has followed suit and will now open the mediation process.

 

ECCHR welcomes this decision and hopes that it will  encourage similar responses from the German and French NCPs in due course.

EU refuses to send a delegation to Uzbekistan

The EU has decided not to send a delegation to Uzbekistan in protest at the country's recent decision to shut down the office of New York-based Human Rights Watch in Tashkent.

Michael Mann, spokesman for the EU Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, said that the EU had decided not to send EU delegation to Uzbekistan and that there was no-one there now.

The decision to set up an EU delegation in Tashkent was taken during Uzbek President Islam Karimovs visit to Brussels this January and his meeting with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

Barroso and Karimov discussed the release of human rights activists Agzam Farmonov, Norboy Holjigitov and Isroiljon Holdorov and accreditation for representatives of Human Rights Watch. Karimov also agreed to allow representatives of the International Labour Organisation into the country to monitor the use of child labour in the cotton industry.

Two months on from the meeting, the human rights activists are still in prison, while Human Rights Watch has been forced to close down its office in Tashkent.

Michael Mann said that dialogue regarding human rights would continue with Uzbekistan and that the EU would be pressuring Tashkent to change its decision on Human Rights Watch.

Reported by The Times of Central Asia

Uzbekistan closes Human Rights Watch office in Tashkent

The advocacy organisation Human Right’s Watch has announced that the Government of Uzbekistan has expelled its employees from the country, and reports that it is shutting down its Tashkent office after a 15 year presence.  The expulsion could not come at a worse time for Uzbekistan where human rights are routinely and systematically violated. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of children are forced into slavery to pick cotton for the Government-run industry, and there are ongoing reports of torture and ill-treatment within the criminal justice system.

"The Uzbek government's persistent refusal to allow independent rights groups to carry out our work exacerbates the already dire human rights situation in the country, allowing severe abuses to go unreported, and further isolating the country's courageous and beleaguered human rights community," said Human Rights Watch Executive director Kenneth Roth.

Not only have the Uzbek government forced many NGOs to leave, it has also consistently denied access to independent human rights monitors. Human rights defenders in Uzbekistan have been calling for the cotton harvest to be independently monitored for a number of years to ensure the Government is meeting its international obligations.

To read Human Rights Watch's press release click here.

Sting stung by Radio 4 Today

Radio 4’s Today programme recently discussed the “murky world” of the pop stars paid a fortune for playing private gigs for dictators.

The first celeb under fire was Sting who in February 2010 performed for the daughter of President Islam Karimov in Uzbekistan. 

Sting’s decision to accept £2 million to perform for the dictator’s daughter landed him in hot water with a cynical press, though his situation was nothing compared to opponents of President Karimov who have been boiled to death.

When questioned about singing for such a controversial figure, Sting said: "I am well aware of the Uzbek president's appalling reputation in the field of human rights as well as the environment. I made the decision to play there in spite of that. I have come to believe that cultural boycotts are not only pointless gestures, they are counter-productive, where proscribed states are further robbed of the open commerce of ideas and art and as a result become even more closed, paranoid and insular."

Sting’s decision to play in Uzbekistan is a PR coup for the government who wants the country to be part of the international scene. In reality the Uzbekistan government still forces hundreds of thousands of children are forced by pick cotton each season.

Celebrities must recognise their responsibilities and be aware that by agreeing to gigs and events at the invitation of such leaders they appear to endorse regimes that sponsor slavery.