Recently, Rahmon has raised the issue of cotton-pickers in Tajikistan. The main point of his article is that the cotton-pickers in Tajikistan are more like slaves than farmers. He is using in his article the Russian word “hlopkorab” instead of “hlopkorob” to describe the cotton-pickers. The official name of cotton-pickers in Russian is “hlopkorob” which is made of two words “hlopok” (cotton) and “rabochi” (worker), literally meaning a person who works with cotton. The word “hlopkorab”, sounds more like “hlopkorob” (cotton-picker) but has a different meaning. “Hlopkorab” also comes from a mix of two words “hlopok” (cotton) and “rab” (slave) which literally means a slave who works with cotton.

By using the word “hlopkorab” (cotton-slave) Rahmon tries to make his article more colorful. I also think that “hlopkorab” (cotton-slave) is the exact word which can be used in description of the whole cotton sector in Tajikistan. It is the truest word to use in case with students of secondary and higher educational institutions, who are recruited for cotton-picking in the beginning of the academic year. Besides the meager wages which students get, they live and work in terrible conditions. Only slaves can work in such conditions. Most of the time it happens to students in rural areas of Khatlon and Sughd regions.

The government officials and particularly Rahmonov himself claim that students’ labor can not be used in cotton-picking and those who break this rule will be punished.

From the beginning of the academic year, according to the edict of the Ministry of Education of Tajikistan, it is prohibited to recruit students of secondary and higher educational institutions for cotton-picking. Minister of Education sent a special letter to all the departments of national education and hukumats (local governments), which rigorously reminds not to recruit students for cotton-picking. The president of the country on 12th of September on the meeting of the government ordered to observe the edict, which bans the use of students’ labor for cotton-picking. It is also banned by the Article 26 of the Law “On Education”. It says that: “recruitment of students for all kinds of agricultural works is prohibited”.

In reality all these rules are violated all over the place. It is strange that so many normative acts are passed by state authorities and none of them works. Most probably, the government is not really interested in enforcement of these edicts. It is not profitable to follow these rules. The state will lose millions of dollars, if it stops practicing the Soviet methods of recruitment of cotton-pickers. Who else is going to pick the cotton if not the students? Students are considered as the main labor force in picking of this strategically important agricultural product. Though, it is worth saying that Tajikistan is not the only country in Central Asia which practices the recruitment of students in cotton-picking. Uzbekistan and Turmenistan are also terrible in that.

I would very much agree with the state authorities, if they would recruit students during the summer for agricultural works, provide them with good wages and good conditions for living. But no way during the academic year. Students miss the classes and it badly influences on their academic success and consequently on their future career.

In spite of Tajikistan’s laws against child labour, 40% of cotton is picked by school-age children. About 70% of parents report that cotton harvesting has a bad effect on the health of their children. Working in the fields also has detrimental effects on their education. According to Frédéric Chenais, IOM’s chief in Tajikistan, children miss up to a third of their classes for meagre wages. Speaking at a press conference in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe he said that “for four or five months of work the kids are paid less than 20 US dollars.”

In addition to that the state officials who recruit students are claiming that those who work in the fields are going for cotton-picking voluntarily. I would say voluntarily-compulsively.