Uzbekistan: Strengthening Laws On Child Labor

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TASHKENT 000009 SENSITIVE SIPDIS G/TIP FOR MEGAN HALL DRL FOR DAVID MIKOSZ E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PHUM ELAB PGOV UN KTIP UZ SUBJECT: Uzbekistan: Strengthening Laws On Child Labor ¶1. (U) Summary: At the end of December, President Karimov strengthened Uzbekistan's legal framework against child labor by signing into law amendments that increase penalties on public officials for using child labor, impose penalties on private individuals using child labor, and do away with a provision that allowed 14 year-olds to do "light work" with the consent of a parent. End Summary. ¶2. (U) On December 21, Karimov signed a package of amendments to the administrative code strengthening the penalties for using child labor. Existing administrative law stated that public officials could be fined two to five times the minimum wage (50-124 USD) for violations of labor legislation, but the new amendments increase the penalty to five to ten times the minimum wage (124-377 USD) if the victim of such violations is a minor. The amendments also address the actions of ordinary citizens (as opposed to public officials),imposing a fine of one to three times the minimum wage (24-66 USD) on any individual using child labor. The legislation will go into effect on February 1, 2010. (Note: These may seem like paltry sums, but relative to average monthly wages of 200 USD or even less in rural areas, such fines could be significant. End note.) ¶3. (U) On December 24, Karimov signed changes and amendments to the labor code and to the law on "the guarantees of the rights of the child." The existing law set the minimum age for employment at 16, but allowed 15 year olds to work with the written permission of a parent and allowed 14 year olds to be involved in "light work" that did not interfere with education and did not hinder the health or development of the child. The new law still sets the minimum age at 16 and allows 15 year olds to do light work with the permission of a parent, but it does away with the provision allowing 14 year olds to do light work. These changes went into effect immediately. ¶4. (U) Official press reported that that these amendments were developed in order to implement Uzbekistan's National Action Plan (NAP) on implementation of International Labor Organization Conventions 138 (On Minimum Age of Employment) and 182 (On Prohibition and Immediate Action on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor),both of which were ratified in March 2008. ¶5. (SBU) UNICEF's Country Representative Mahboob Shareef was pleased with these changes to the legal framework, stating that they send a message to local administrators that they need to enforce child labor violations. He also stated that he expects additional legislation on child labor to be proposed when the new parliament convenes in 2010, noting that several members of parliament are becoming more vocal on child labor issues. ¶6. (SBU) Comment: More than the pecuniary penalties for using child labor, the significance of the amendments lies in the signal they send. In conjunction with a Ministry of Labor list released last June that included cotton picking as an activity involving unfavorable work conditions, the new changes leave little doubt that public officials (e.g., local hokims and even school administrators) and private individuals (e.g., farmers and even parents) can be fined for using children in the cotton harvest. Whether they will be fined is another question, and one that will not be fully answered until the 2010 cotton harvest. But Karimov's endorsement of these changes, while still short of the personal statement we are looking for from him on this issue, shows some commitment to addressing the child labor problem. Moreover, the change to the minimum age of employment shows that the GOU is moving ahead on its NAP on implementing the ILO conventions. The NAP had been lying dormant for several months, so its revival is a TASHKENT 00000009 002 OF 002 most welcome sign. Most significantly, the GOU has demonstrated that it will move forward on child labor in its own way, at its own pace, tacitly acknowledging a need to respond to our concerns. And while these amendments are not the dramatic steps forward that the international community would like to see, they are steps forward, nonetheless. They argue for continued pragmatic engagement with the GOU on this issue. End comment. NORLAND NORLAND