EurAsiaNet
June 12
or thousands of Uzbek children, the absence of daily school bells this summer means they can do in the open what they secretly do all year. But instead of taking summer holidays, these children work. The incidence of child labor spreads so broadly throughout the country that national law discourages efforts to change it.
Officially, Uzbek law sharply discourages child labor. Unofficially, the national economy, still struggling after the country joined the US-led war on terrorism and drew an infusion of American aid, overwhelms its obligations to international standards. Uzbekistan, despite its membership in the International Labour Organization, has ratified only one of twelve of its conventions banning child labor. Instead, Uzbekistan carries norms and laws that are harsher than the international standards but also are more general. But these laws are laxly enforced, and run counter to traditions.
Teenagers appear in virtually every bazaar in Uzbekistan, offering their services as arbakeshes (couriers). They are paid poorly for their labor and must give part of their pay to their protectors. Their working day is not standardized, and no one incurs any liability for violating their rights. Nor does anyone stop children from leaving school to become couriers, candy or cigarette vendors working near their homes, or general laborers. Often, these children are younger than 14; they usually work without contracts or medical records. Laws designed to protect them backfire, because teenagers who stay in school tend to know their rights and cost employers more than children who are willing to work without contracts.
Most teenage laborers often find themselves exploited in many ways. "Last summer I worked in a kindergarten as a nurse," says Nigora Rakhmanova from Nukus. "I did not sign any contracts with the administrator of the kindergarten; they did not require me to produce any medical certificates. I worked for two months and when it was time for them to pay, I received considerably less than they had promised." Such stories figure to become more common: demand for unskilled or semi-skilled labor is falling, and employers have neither resources nor inclination to invest in education or job training. In a vicious cycle, children are likely to seek more work to pay for their own education as the economy falters.
As Uzbekistan struggles to outgrow its agrarian base and become an industrial economy, though, children are caught in the least desirable jobs. Demand for juvenile labor remains strong during harvesting campaigns. Every autumn, hundreds of thousands of high school students in Uzbekistan are taken to the fields to pick cotton. They live in damp, cold buildings and often do not receive compensation for their work. This practice has drawn criticism from human rights advocates, but seems unlikely to change.
"We are taken to the fields every year," says Rinat Ismailov, a college student in Tashkent. "When we return, we have to study after classes to catch up. We have to pick at least 70 kilograms of cotton a day. We do not receive any money for the ’white gold’ we pick. They say the money is all spent on food and supplies, etc."
This resignation is not so rare. "My sons do not attend school," says Alima Karimova. "They just do not have time. Zakir and Azat are the only breadwinners in our family. My husband died five years ago and I am disabled. There are seven children in our family. They make 3-4 thousand soms a day (2-3,5 USD). This is the money we live on." In the country’s broad shadow economy, children have become a cheap and dependable source of labor.
They have also developed specialties. In cities, children most commonly work as waiters, cleaners in homes and offices, shop assistants, and conductors in public transport. Often, a master at a given craft will take on a juvenile as an "apprentice." Apprentices do chores and basic professional operations. But the training their masters provide is often very limited, as they themselves often lack sufficient professional skills. This is especially true when it comes to new technologies.
As masters fail to teach children how to work in new fields and as children leave school to serve as their families’ breadwinners, agriculture remains a dominant force in Uzbek life. In Karakalpakstan, children help cultivate rice; in the Ferghana Valley, they grow silk. The most common, time-consuming and labor-intensive work for children is picking cotton, as it has been for generations. The majority of families in rural areas still depend on part-time farming for a significant portion of their income – meaning that many children work in others’ fields and handle chores around their own homes.
Non-governmental organizations operating in Uzbekistan do their best to draw the community’s attention to the problem. High school instructors, alarmed at seeing fewer and fewer students at the school desks, are also trying to raise awareness. But independent experts believe child-labor reform will not happen any time soon. As long as parents tolerate their children’s exploitation, children will remain popular but underpaid sources of labor. And as long as families have to choose between child labor and starvation, children will continue to give up on school to keep their households together.