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.