This new report from the International Labor Rights Forum and a group of human rights defenders in Uzbekistan documents continued child labor in cotton fields in Uzbekistan in the Fall 2008 harvest season. Contrary to the government of Uzbekistan’s assertions that it has banned forced child labor, recent information suggests it continues to compel children as young as 11 and 12 to pick cotton, closing schools and using other coercive measures to enforce compliance.

Since the 1960’s, pineapple production has quadrupled and export has tripled worldwide. While profits for some have tremendously expanded under such development, this report demonstrates how pineapple workers, their families and communities, and the environment in the largest pineapple producing nations have not enjoyed the benefits of such growth.

At the end of March and in early April this year, Uzbekistan’s parliament ratified the ILO Convention on Minimal Age of Employment (No. 138, 1973) and the Convention on Prohibition and Immediate Action for Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour (No. 182, 1999). The very next month, however, under the direction of Uzbekistan’s central government, local authorities and school administrations forced thousands of children out to the fields for spring agricultural work.