Uzbek cotton farmers facing ‘forced dependency’

Cotton farmers in Uzbekistan are becoming subordinates, forced to serve the interests of powerful companies that dominate cotton production, a local human rights group has warned.

The Uzbek Forum for Human Rights (UHFR) says that despite promises of reform, farmers operating in Uzbekistan’s cotton sector, which has been long associated with state control and forced labour, are owed “huge” amounts of money by the private cotton clusters that dominate cotton production.