TAJIKISTAN - COMMENT ON DOL DRAFT LIST FOR TVPRA

UNCLAS DUSHANBE 000099

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR G/TIP STEINER, DRL/ILCSR MITTELHAUSER, DOL/ILAB RIGBY

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM ECON ELAB KTIP TI
SUBJECT: TAJIKISTAN - COMMENT ON DOL DRAFT LIST FOR TVPRA

REF: (A) SECSTATE 3075
(B) 08 Dushanbe 1256
(C) 08 Dushanbe 1388


1. (U) Post appreciates the opportunity to comment on the Department
of Labor's draft list of goods that it has reason to believe are
produced by forced labor or child labor (ref A). The evidence
supports the inclusion of Tajik cotton on the list (refs B and C).
We would like to add some context that may be helpful in ongoing
efforts to address the situation in Tajikistan.


2. (U) As with other Central Asian countries, the use of children,
students and government employees in the cotton sector is a holdover
from the Soviet period. Over the last few years, the Government of
Tajikistan has taken steps to reduce the degree to which child labor
and forced labor are used. The government would likely point to
these measures as evidence that they are combating the problem.
Government officials may also argue that the scale of the problem is
not as significant as in other Central Asian countries, particularly
Uzbekistan.


3. (U) While these points are valid, we believe the government can
do more. Reform of the agriculture sector, including but also going
well beyond the issue of forced labor and child labor, has been
slow. This is in part because of official mismanagement, and in
part because government officials are keen to protect their own
financial interests. The Ministry of Labor does not make a serious
attempt to enforce existing laws prohibiting forced labor and child
labor in the cotton sector. While national-level officials,
including President Rahmon, have made pronouncements outlawing these
practices, they have not ensured that local authorities follow the
law. The heads of local or regional governments in Khatlon and
Sughd, in cooperation with school and university directors, are
directly responsible for compelling, facilitating, or toleratingQ
forced labor and child labor in the cotton sector. However, in one
development, which may indicate greater official interest in
addressing the problem of child labor, prosecutors have opened a
case against a local administrator in Shahrituz district over the
official's use of school-age children to pick cotton.


4. (U) Public reaction to placing Tajikistan on the TVPRA list is
difficult to predict. We have often heard that rural families rely
on their children to help them subsist. Media reports exposing
labor violations in the cotton sector have not met with a
significant public reaction. However, the Soviet-era sentiment that
participating in the cotton harvest is a matter of "national duty"
is waning. Conditions in the cotton fields have become extremely
poor, and the pay, if any, is meager (see refs B and C). Many
understand that only a privileged few actually benefit from the
cotton industry.


5. (U) We are ready to participate in a coordinated strategy to
reduce child labor and forced labor in Tajikistan. We think it
would be helpful to emphasize to government officials that any
improvements could positively impact Tajikistan's TIP ranking. We
have begun to engage the Tajik authorities - particularly the
country's top anti-TIP official - on the issue, and we hope to see
some positive results in the coming months.

JACOBSON