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Lack of skilled manpower, sophisticated technology, and marketization are a new basis for child labor in Central Asia, particularly in Uzbekistan. Agriculture, which comprises 40 percent of GDP of Uzbekistan, has turned backwards from the Soviet period when refined technology was provided by the Russians.
Uzbekistan, the second largest producer of cotton in the world, now mostly cultivates cotton with forced labor by school children. Schools are closed down for two to three months and all the children and teachers are ordered by the autocratic state to take part in cotton-picking. Daily quotas are assigned to everyone.
This article is based on extensive field investigation in Uzbekistan. School children, their employers, and their parents were interviewed. Also, in-depth interviews of human rights activists, senior citizens, academicians, government officials, and social workers were conducted to make the findings of the study holistic.
INTRODUCTION
Child labor is ubiquitous in almost all Central Asian States, but in diverse ways and to different degrees. Tajikistan uses child labor as a "lifeline for their families" who are strained by extreme poverty to take their children out of school and plant them to work on the family farm or marketplace. According to unofficial estimates, 45-55 percent of children from the 10-14 age groups especially from low income families are engaged in physical labor and this percentage is increasing in Dushanbe and other large cities in Tajikistan.
The Kazakh legislation includes provisions on the employment of minors, such as the age limit, safety measures and various safeguards, although many children work illicitly, predominantly in the rural areas. The types of labor performed by children include subsistence farming, work in private enterprises, family business, and others. The socio-demographical and economic situation in Kazakhstan is conducive to the use of cheap child labor, both during the agricultural season, irrespective of the educational process, and by family and criminal businesses. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the use of child labor in Kyrgyzstan has become widespread, especially in the southern regions, where tobacco, rice and cotton are cultivated. Children are involved in transporting (unloading) and selling goods and luggage on the streets and in the markets, in addition to collecting bottles and aluminium. An overview of the Turkmen legislation on labor rights of...