Eurostep Weekly - Child labour in Central Asia on EP agenda (20 November 2007)

Brussels, 20/11/07, (Eurostep): Support for security cooperation with repressive states in Central Asia should be minimised, according to a new European Parliament report.

To be discussed by the assembly’s foreign affairs committee this week (19-21 November), the report examines the EU’s relations with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Particular concern is expressed about Tajikistan, one of the twenty poorest countries in the world. Effectively a cotton monoculture, child labour and the exploitation of women are rife in the country, the report suggests.

Although the Tajik civil war ended in 1997, a high number of cluster bombs remain unexploded in the country, which is encountering what German Green MEP Cem Ozdemir, the report’s author, describes as “precarious stability”. The Dushanbe government does not tolerate opposition, he said, imposing strict controls on the media.

Ozdemir welcomed plans by the European Commission to set up an office in Dushanbe during 2008, arguing that this should lead to a strengthening of cooperation with Tajikistan.

Outside investment could have a role, he added, in reducing child labour. But he feels that European companies will be unwilling to invest in Tajikistan until its infrastructure is improved and high levels of corruption are addressed.

His report also expresses concern about the persecution of human rights activists in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Plans to increase trade with Turkmenistan should be made conditional on human rights improvements, his report says.