Unfinished work in the fight against forced labor in Uzbekistan’s cotton harvest
Anti-trafficking organizations react to the 2020 TIP report, Uzbekistan’s cotton harvest still has work to do to reform worker conditions, and a new network seeks to give women a voice on human trafficking issues.
The 20th edition of the U.S. State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report was released by Secretary of State Pompeo on Thursday. The report named 10 countries that it said engaged in government-sponsored forced labor. This is the first year in which governments have been declared to be complicit in human trafficking.
Luis C.deBaca, the former U.S. Ambassador to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, writes that this year’s report should be read not as a triumphalist document but as a warning of storm clouds on the horizon. The 2020 Report shows a weakening of victim protections even in countries which were considered exemplary, a seeming lack of urgency on the part of governments to get real results, and a reversion to an almost exclusive focus on sex trafficking. The United States must take the Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Report as a self-critical call to action, just as it expects of its foreign counterparts.
Humanity United noted that, based on the evidence, the United States does not deserve its Tier 1 ranking, in light of its pursuit of harmful immigration policies that heighten the vulnerability of trafficking victims and increase the risk of their exploitation. Awarding the United States another unwarranted gold star will tarnish the report for years to come, according to a former coordinator within the State Department.
Following publication of the report, Tenaganita called upon the Malaysian government to fight corruption and invest in strengthening the competencies of prosecutors and enforcement officers, and to demonstrate increased transparency in the case management and prosecutions of human trafficking cases. For the third consecutive year, Malaysia remains on the report’s Tier 2 Watchlist.
Report documents both the progress as well as the remaining challenges in Uzbekistan
A new report released by the Uzbek Forum for Human Rights (formerly Uzbek-German Forum/UGF) on the 2019 Uzbekistan cotton harvest documents both meaningful progress towards ending forced labor and the persistence of government-organized forced labor.
The report finds that the state-imposed cotton quota, structural labor shortages, the lack of fair and independent recruitment channels, and weak accountability systems contributed to the presence of significant ongoing forced labor, including in the newly privatized cotton textile cluster system. Delayed progress on civil society freedoms is also limiting the success of broader reform efforts.
The report Tashkent’s Reforms Have Not Yet Reached Us – Unfinished Work in the Fight Against Forced Labor in Uzbekistan’s 2019 Cotton Harvest is based on 111 in-depth interviews with people involved in the cotton harvest as well as hundreds of short interviews, field visits, and farm-level monitoring in six of Uzbekistan’s regions. The report also includes data and analysis from a nation-wide online survey, designed to assess participation in the harvest, and its worker conditions, conducted in partnership with the Solidarity Center and RIWI Corp., a public polling/research firm.
‘The 2020 harvest shows that the reform process is taking hold but also that significant problems remain. The task now is to tackle these problems head on,’ said Umida Niyazova, executive director of Uzbek Forum. ‘Civil society has a key role to play in problem-solving as well as reporting on forced labor and it is long past time to ensure civil society freedoms are protected.’
Here’s a round-up of other noteworthy news and initiatives:
Research into the situation of returned Cambodian migrants, conducted by the USAID Asia Counter Trafficking in Persons (CTIP) project, implemented by Winrock International, shows 60% of respondents had not been helped by any support services since returning home. The research brief summarizes the findings and includes recommendations that might be helpful for planning activities during Covid-19.
UNODC, in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and under the framework of Global Action against Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants, has united with gender champions to launch the GLO.ACT Women’s Network. The network seeks to induce a cultural shift that confronts the ways in which women are frequently excluded from the response to trafficking in human beings and migrant smuggling, with a view to achieving better quality assistance for victims of trafficking.
Through interviews with frontline social workers and survivor stories from grassroots organizations in the City of Toronto, Canada, a report by Aura Freedom International demonstrates how gender-based violence is impacting all 12 Areas of Critical Concern of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and hindering the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Irregular armed groups in Colombia have ramped up their recruitment of poor young people, who find themselves even more vulnerable now that schools have shut down indefinitely to avoid the spread of the coronavirus.
The Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (GFEMS) has released a new funding opportunity for the improvement of recruitment practices in India’s construction sector. The deadline to submit concept notes is 26 July.
Join Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX) and a panel of expert speakers on 21 July to consider how modern slavery is discussed in the media and beyond.
Stop the Traffik UK is recruiting a Super User for their Traffik Analysis Hub to build and communicate with prospective and existing participants in order to maximize engagement.
Winrock International is seeking a Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist to join their team in Bangkok, Thailand.
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