Comments on: HlopkorOb or hlopkorAb? http://tajikistan.neweurasia.net/2006/10/03/hlopkorob-or-hlopkorab/ neweurasia\'s latest on Tajikistan Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:25:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.3 By: michael http://tajikistan.neweurasia.net/2006/10/03/hlopkorob-or-hlopkorab/#comment-3104 michael Sun, 15 Oct 2006 04:11:25 +0000 http://tajikistan.neweurasia.net/2006/10/03/hlopkorob-or-hlopkorab/#comment-3104 Here in Xinjiang (not to be forgotten in discussions of Central Asia!) middle and high school students are routinely sent with their teachers to pick cotton for a week when the harvest is ready. They aren't paid and are required to meet a daily quota of 20kg per student per day. Here in Xinjiang (not to be forgotten in discussions of Central Asia!) middle and high school students are routinely sent with their teachers to pick cotton for a week when the harvest is ready. They aren’t paid and are required to meet a daily quota of 20kg per student per day.

]]> By: Global News Blog » Central Asia - HlopkorOb or hlopkorAb? http://tajikistan.neweurasia.net/2006/10/03/hlopkorob-or-hlopkorab/#comment-2791 Global News Blog » Central Asia - HlopkorOb or hlopkorAb? Thu, 05 Oct 2006 05:06:28 +0000 http://tajikistan.neweurasia.net/2006/10/03/hlopkorob-or-hlopkorab/#comment-2791 [...] HlopkorOb or hlopkorAb?Neweurasia.net, Europe - Oct 2, 2006Recently, Rahmon has raised the issue of cotton-pickers in Tajikistan. The main point of his article is that the cotton-pickers … [...] […] HlopkorOb or hlopkorAb?Neweurasia.net, Europe - Oct 2, 2006Recently, Rahmon has raised the issue of cotton-pickers in Tajikistan. The main point of his article is that the cotton-pickers … […]

]]> By: Parisa http://tajikistan.neweurasia.net/2006/10/03/hlopkorob-or-hlopkorab/#comment-2767 Parisa Wed, 04 Oct 2006 11:44:50 +0000 http://tajikistan.neweurasia.net/2006/10/03/hlopkorob-or-hlopkorab/#comment-2767 Very \"interesting\" article. Really Rakhmon\"s article on prohibiting children labor in the cotton-picking is very colorful and interesting. Honestly speaking, after reading that article I thought that nobody anymore was going to force schoolchildren and students to go to the fields and pick the cotton. Unfortunately my expectations were not justified. Again poor students are working in the fields and nobody from the top officials care about them. What they get after cotton-picking is poor results in education field and sometimes even worse than that, namely they can get different kind of diseases. I hope some day the situation will change and those acts and laws in terms of this issue implemented. But when it is going to happen? Nobody can answer this question!!! Very \”interesting\” article.

Really Rakhmon\”s article on prohibiting children labor in the cotton-picking is very colorful and interesting. Honestly speaking, after reading that article I thought that nobody anymore was going to force schoolchildren and students to go to the fields and pick the cotton. Unfortunately my expectations were not justified. Again poor students are working in the fields and nobody from the top officials care about them. What they get after cotton-picking is poor results in education field and sometimes even worse than that, namely they can get different kind of diseases.
I hope some day the situation will change and those acts and laws in terms of this issue implemented. But when it is going to happen? Nobody can answer this question!!!

]]> By: Global Voices Online » Blog Archive » Tajikistan: Workers or Slaves http://tajikistan.neweurasia.net/2006/10/03/hlopkorob-or-hlopkorab/#comment-2757 Global Voices Online » Blog Archive » Tajikistan: Workers or Slaves Wed, 04 Oct 2006 02:50:22 +0000 http://tajikistan.neweurasia.net/2006/10/03/hlopkorob-or-hlopkorab/#comment-2757 [...] Vadim reports on the use of child labor in cotton harvesting in Tajikistan. [...] […] Vadim reports on the use of child labor in cotton harvesting in Tajikistan. […]

]]> By: James http://tajikistan.neweurasia.net/2006/10/03/hlopkorob-or-hlopkorab/#comment-2756 James Wed, 04 Oct 2006 02:28:03 +0000 http://tajikistan.neweurasia.net/2006/10/03/hlopkorob-or-hlopkorab/#comment-2756 These students aren't "slaves" in the strictist sense of the word. Much like young people struggling elsewhere in the developing world, they are slaves only by virtue of the lack of alternative means of obtaining livelihood. As is usual for governments in Central Asia, the RoT completely misses the point by "prohibiting" students from cotton picking. If the economic system were such that students could actually get jobs by staying in school, they wouldn't make that tradeoff. As Alexander points out, without making substantive changes elsewhere in the economic system of Tajikistan, telling students not to work in the cotton field a) misses the point and b) will not be effective. If there is demand for workers and a supply of workers who (given the circumstances) are willing to work, they will no matter what the authorities say (this is true in the United States as well). Thanks for the translation and commentary, Vadim. These students aren’t “slaves” in the strictist sense of the word. Much like young people struggling elsewhere in the developing world, they are slaves only by virtue of the lack of alternative means of obtaining livelihood. As is usual for governments in Central Asia, the RoT completely misses the point by “prohibiting” students from cotton picking. If the economic system were such that students could actually get jobs by staying in school, they wouldn’t make that tradeoff. As Alexander points out, without making substantive changes elsewhere in the economic system of Tajikistan, telling students not to work in the cotton field a) misses the point and b) will not be effective. If there is demand for workers and a supply of workers who (given the circumstances) are willing to work, they will no matter what the authorities say (this is true in the United States as well).

Thanks for the translation and commentary, Vadim.

]]> By: Alexander Sadikov http://tajikistan.neweurasia.net/2006/10/03/hlopkorob-or-hlopkorab/#comment-2721 Alexander Sadikov Tue, 03 Oct 2006 07:15:52 +0000 http://tajikistan.neweurasia.net/2006/10/03/hlopkorob-or-hlopkorab/#comment-2721 Vadim, Yes, the situation is more than terrible. And, honestly, I don't believe that the government's continuous remarks that students's labor should not be used to pick the cotton is anything but their genuine will. Many people in the government make huge profits through the control over Tajik cotton export. Therefore, it is in their best interests to keep students on the fields and have their cotton's prime cost low. After Rahmon's article, I have suggested that it would be impossible to change the situation unless the entire agricultural policy in Tajikistan is revised. Vadim,

Yes, the situation is more than terrible. And, honestly, I don’t
believe that the government’s continuous remarks that students’s labor should not be used to pick the cotton is anything but their genuine will. Many people in the government make huge profits through the control over Tajik cotton export. Therefore, it is in their best interests to keep students on the fields and have their cotton’s prime cost low.

After Rahmon’s article, I have suggested that it would be impossible to change the situation unless the entire agricultural policy in Tajikistan is revised.

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