Turkmenistan is putting an end to the use of child labor in cotton harvesting. President Berdymuhammedov’s intent is to stop all child labor in Turkmenistan. IWPR’s report says that it is unlikely that child labor will not be used during the fast-arriving harvest. In fact, judging from the story, if the central government is indeed genuinely interested in putting an end to child labor, it sounds like it faces quite a struggle.
Families, farmers, and local officials all face pressures that result in children being put to work. Many families gain additional income by putting their children to work in unskilled jobs, and they are understandably cautious to sacrifice income that partially satisfies current needs for abstract, potential, and distant benefits their children will gain from the education system. For decades, children have provided the massive amounts of labor needed for weeding fields and harvesting cotton. Local officials have been responsible for guaranteeing that production targets are met for the important export. The cotton system needs massive restructuring to keep it going during a transition. Given the great aversion of Central Asian leaders to policies which dramatically disrupt the status quo, it is hard to determine whether or not President Berdymuhammedov really intends to end child labor in the near term, try to reduce or slowly eliminate it, or merely to use this plan to try to gain points with Western governments and cotton purchasers.
Uzbekistan, meanwhile, is facing pressure from trade associations representing US apparel and retail industries to stop the use of child labor in its cotton industry.
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