R 030634Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 1024
INFO CIS COLLECTIVE
AMEMBASSY KABUL 
AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 
AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI

UNCLAS DUSHANBE 001256 
 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/CEN, G/TIP HALL, DRL/ILCSR HAILEY 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM EAGR ELAB TI
SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN TAJIKISTAN'S COTTON SECTOR 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: During a recent visit to Sughd region emboff and 
visiting G/TIP Officer explored trafficking issues and assessed 
allegations that students were forced by government authorities to 
pick cotton, despite a presidential decree prohibiting the practice. 
 Emboff and G/TIP Officer found evidence of forced and child labor 
in the cotton industry that contradicted the government's position. 
End summary. 
 
¶2. (U) The cotton harvest in Tajikistan began about September 15, 
and it will last approximately 70 days.  Emboff and G/TIP Officer 
Megan Hall visited Sughd, a major cotton producing region, September 
25-26. 
 
¶3. (U) During the Soviet period, the government viewed cotton as a 
strategic economic interest of the state.  Students and government 
workers throughout the country participated in the cotton harvest, 
and many considered participation a patriotic duty.  Students viewed 
this time as a way to bond with classmates, in addition to 
performing their civic duty.  This tradition continues in 
Tajikistan, but the circumstances have changed significantly. 
 
¶4. (U) The Tajik government has set a fixed price to purchase cotton 
from farmers, which it then sells on the international market.  This 
fixed price is well below market value, making it difficult for 
farmers to pay workers to pick cotton.  Accordingly, farmers turn to 
local officials to mobilize labor, which inevitably leads to local 
officials compelling people to participate in the cotton campaign at 
untenably low wages or often no wage at all. 
 
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS - FORCED LABOR 
 
¶5. (U) In Sughd, Students in the first through third years of 
university - ages 18 to 21 - have been forced to pick cotton for 
this year's harvest.  David Holzmeyer, an Amcit English Teaching 
Fellow at Khujand State University, described to emboff how on 
September 17 a university administrator told him to announce to his 
students that the next day they would be taken out to the fields to 
pick cotton.  University administrators and professors oversaw the 
organization and transportation of students, and professors 
accompanied the students to oversee the cotton picking.  The 
students were not given a choice about participating; classes for 
first through third year students were cancelled.  Several students 
tried to "buy their way out" - either by bribing a university 
official or a medical board examiner. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Emboff spoke to three of Holzmeyer's students (all in their 
third year) who had participated in prior years.  The students said 
they wanted to stay in school and concentrate on their studies.  Two 
of the students bribed officials to avoid participating this year; 
the third simply refused to go with her classmates.  She said she 
was concerned that the dean of the university would see her in town 
during the harvest and would confront her; she was afraid she could 
be expelled for refusing to pick cotton. 
 
¶7. According to the students, while working in the fields, they 
lived in run down shacks.  Conditions were generally deplorable, but 
varied by farm and supervisor: working hours were 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.; 
the drinking water was dirty; students were punished if they did not 
meet quotas; some had to pay to take a shower.  Students had to pay 
for their food, and wages were extremely low; they essentially broke 
even by the time the campaign was over.  Visits home were limited to 
once a week, and students usually asked family members to bring them 
changes of clothes or extra food. 
Qchanges of clothes or extra food. 
 
¶8. (SBU) University officials forced many students to sign 
"applications" so that they could later claim that the students were 
voluntarily picking cotton.  Those who avoided going to the fields 
were required to perform janitorial services at the university for 
the duration.  Those who avoided service altogether were punished - 
either with expulsion or with poor grades.  University officials 
notified military officials of male students who had been expelled, 
so that the military could conscript them immediately. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Holzmeyer and his students said that this set of 
circumstances applied to most first to third year university 
students in Khujand's universities. 
 
SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS - CHILD LABOR 
 
¶10. (SBU) Holzmeyer's students said that secondary school students 
in grades 8 to 11 (ages 14 to 17) also participated in the harvest. 
Teachers gathered the students after classes and took them to work 
in the fields for several hours during the day.  The students then 
returned home by bus.  It was unclear whether they were compelled in 
the same manner as university students, and unknown whether there 
was punishment for refusal to participate.  This practice appeared 
to be more prevalent in rural communities, rather than in the 
region's cities. 
 
¶11. (SBU) While traveling in the area, EmbOffs came upon a group of 
secondary school students picking cotton near Konibodom.  A teacher 
from the school had driven the students to the field in a bus; he 
and a local farmer were relaxing in the bus while about 20 students 
were hard at work in the hot afternoon sun.  The teacher said that 
the students were in grades 8-11, and that they were being 
supervised by other teachers.  The farmer said that he had asked 
local officials to send out some laborers to help him with his 
crops; he said he paid the students for their work. 
 
GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES - UNKNOWN 
 
¶12. (SBU) Our contacts informed us that employees of some government 
institutions were compelled to pick cotton.  These employees 
continued to draw their official salaries, but went to the cotton 
fields instead of to work as usual.  Military conscripts also 
harvested cotton.  We did not have a chance to corroborate these 
allegations. 
 
SEEING IS BELIEVING 
 
¶13. (SBU) Comment: The official government line on this issue is 
that no one picks cotton campaign against their will, and that 
government officials are not involved in labor violations. 
President Rahmon and the Minister of Education have issued a decree 
to this effect.  Our observations, as well as numerous published 
reports, contradict the government's statements.  Government 
officials force university students to pick cotton under conditions 
that satisfy the definition of trafficking in persons for labor 
exploitation.  At the very least, local officials are complicit in 
illegal child labor; further investigation is warranted, however, 
there is strong evidence that the authorities are complicit in 
forced labor trafficking of both children and adults.  While we have 
not had the chance to explore these issues in the south of the 
country, it is likely - based in part on publicly available reports 
- that the same situation exists in Khatlon Province. 
 
¶14. (SBU) Comment continued: We will be reporting our findings to 
the authorities, including the Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial 
Commission to Fight Trafficking in Persons.  A Tajik labor official 
recently admitted to us that the government has not seriously 
investigated claims of human rights violations in the cotton 
industry by, for example, carrying out labor inspections. 
Government attempts to deny involvement in labor violations and 
trafficking are superficial; there are significant problems that the 
government must address.  End comment. 
 
JACOBSON