It’s not news per se, as the international community raises the same concerns at the end of every Central Asian cotton-picking season, but here’s a reminder. Earlier this year, ICG produced a report, entitled The Curse of Cotton: Central Asia’s Destructive Monoculture, which outlined the fundamental problems - economic, environmental, social and political, besetting the region’s cotton industry.

Subsequently, the report was the de facto centrepiece of a seminar I attended at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in late March, focusing on that issue. Many interesting points were made, and seeing the Reuters release sent me scurrying back to the notes I made at the seminar. Naturally, they still hold true; some are even eerily prescient e.g. on forced labour:

It is regarded as a security issue, since fear of forced labour prompts a) migration, and b) increased support for Islamist groups (particularly, in the latter case, if governments continue to interfere with people’s right to work in the bazaars).

e.g. on ratification of international regulations:

Most of the Central Asian republics have ratified the ILO’s conventions on child labour, but this does not mean they are being fulfilled. However, the ILO can only write to governments and organisations pointing out bad practices – they have no means of coercion.

In Uzbekistan’s case, this means they have ratified conventions on Forced Labour (C.29 & C.105 - 1992 & 1997), Freedom of Association (C.87 & C.98 - both 1992) and Discrimination (C.100 & C.111 - both 1992); BUT, and it’s a big ‘but’, Uzbekistan hasn’t ratified conventions on Child Labour (C.138 & C.182)

Indeed, it could be said that the lack of the international community to enforce international laws is what has led to calls for the imposition of a cotton embargo on Uzbekistan as the only way to make the government in Tashkent review its approach to issues such as human rights, democracy and liberalism i.e. hit ‘em in the pocket! Others have made more emotional pleas than I for right-minded people to consider such action, notably David Walther over at Registan, but as Uzbekistan now appears to be embracing more closely Russia and the PRC post-Andijan, would an embargo really work?