THE COTTON HARVEST IN SOUTHERN TAJIKISTAN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 001388

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR G/TIP HALL, DRL/ILCSR HAILEY

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM EAGR ELAB TI
SUBJECT: THE COTTON HARVEST IN SOUTHERN TAJIKISTAN

REF: (A) 08 Dushanbe 1256
(B) 08 Tashkent 1256


1. (U) Summary: A late October visit to Tajikistan's southern
Khatlon province provided a more complete picture of labor
conditions in the cotton industry. As in the northern Sughd
province, there wasevidence of forced and child labor (reftel A).
Reliance on such labor is a holdover from the Soviet era, but these
practices continue in part because of endemic problems in the
country's cotton industry. While the international and local media
have reported on the situation, the Tajik public does not appear to
be outraged. End summary.


2. (SBU) EmbOffs met with Saidrahmon Nazriev, a reporter for the
news organization Asia Plus, Dilbar Khalilova, head of the NGO
Fidokor, and two university students (names withheld) in Kurgonteppa
to discuss this year's cotton harvest. EmbOffs also spoke to Jura
Soliev, a cotton farmer in Yovon. All of our interlocutors said
practices in Khatlon were similar to those in Sughd. Farmers in the
south relied on university students who were compelled against their
will to participate in the cotton campaign; high school students in
grades 9 to 11 also participated in the cotton harvest after school;
and working conditions are extremely poor.

PREVALENCE OF FORCED LABOR UNEVEN


3. (SBU) Authorities cancelled classes at both universities in
Kurgonteppa during the cotton harvest season to facilitate student
participation. According to a second year English language student,
on 22 September, the university organized buses that took him and
300 of his classmates to pick cotton. University instructors
supervised the students in the fields, and forced some students to
sign declarations that they were participating voluntarily.
Conditions for the students were extremely poor; they worked from 8
a.m. to sundown, received 25 dirams (about 7 cents) for each
kilogram of cotton picked, and had to reimburse the farmers for food
and lodging. They lived in communal houses and did not have clean
drinking water. Each day, about five students simply left the
fields, including our interlocutor. He did not know if university
officials would punish him, but he was also concerned that he would
get into trouble for speaking to EmbOffs.


4. (SBU) A third year law student at another university said that
about 30 percent of his classmates participated in the cotton
harvest, primarily first and second year students. University
officials were more lax with students in upper levels who had "put
in their time"; he and most of his classmates were staying at home,
waiting for classes to resume in November. Students did not
necessarily mind missing school because they did not think they were
getting a good education. Many attended university to postpone
military service, and many others bribed professors to get good
grades.


5. (SBU) Khalilova, the NGO head, telephoned colleagues who worked
at universities in Kulyob. They reported their institutions had
cancelled some classes for second and third year students.
Khalilova asked if the World Bank helped finance the university
system; she was concerned whether universities that facilitate
forced labor of students received international assistance.
Khalilova and our student interlocutors said that some secondary
school students - grades 9 through 11 - had to help in the cotton
fields after classes.

NEWSFLASH: HARD WORK, LOW WAGES


6. (SBU) Newspapers throughout Tajikistan, particularly in Sughd,
have reported extensively on labor issues and the cotton harvest.
In mid-November, at least 5 major newspapers published articles
QIn mid-November, at least 5 major newspapers published articles
describing poor working conditions and contradicting claims by
government officials that students participated in the harvest
voluntarily. However Nazriev, the Asia Plus reporter, said he was
very cautious about what he chose to put into print. He lacked
finances to investigate the issue completely; if he omitted a fact,
or misreported something, he could face severe legal consequences.


7. (U) The international media has reported on the subject. A
recent New York Times article mentioned the mobilization of
students. A U.S. Government-sponsored English Language Fellow in
Khujand who visited his students in the cotton fields published his
observations online on Ferghana.ru.

IT'S HARD TO FIND GOOD HELP THESE DAYS


8. (SBU) Soliev, the cotton farmer, explained that he could not find
enough people willing to work his fields. He could not pay workers
adequately because the government set the purchase price for raw
cotton at a below-market level. He could not afford to mechanize
his farm. He could not count on a ready supply of cheap labor
because so many Tajiks had left the country for higher paying work

DUSHANBE 00001388 002 OF 002


in Russia or elsewhere. Instead, he resorted to asking local
officials to send in students. The students were generally not very
efficient; they didn't take their work seriously.


9. (SBU) Comment: In Sughd and Khatlon, it appears that local
authorities - primarily the heads of local governments, in
cooperation with school and university directors - are directly
responsible for compelling, facilitating, or tolerating forced labor
and child labor in the cotton sector. While national-level
authorities officially have outlawed such practices, they have not
ensured that local authorities follow the law. EmbOffs presented
the information they gathered - including Tajik newspaper articles -
to the Head of Tajikistan's anti-trafficking commission, Ramazon
Rakhimov, who promised to investigate the situation further. We do
not know whether he has the will - or ability - to compel change.



10. (SBU) Comment continued: Media attention has not generated a
public outcry. Most adults in Tajikistan were mobilized for cotton
picking during the Soviet period, and many still view labor
practices in the cotton industry as an economic necessity or simply
a tradition. Whilethe problems of forced labor and child labor in
the cotton harvest in Tajikistan may not be as severe as those in
other Central Asian countries (reftel B),the problems persist, and
addressing them would require Tajikistan to wean itself off the
Soviet-era practices of mobilizing students; reform the agricultural
sector; and enforce labor laws. Mobilizing students and closing
universities during the cotton season hastens the deterioration of
the educational system in Tajikistan as well. End comment.

JACOBSON