NO ADVANCEMENT- EFFORTS MADE BUT COMPLICIT

In 2014, Uzbekistan made efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labor, but was also complicit in the use of forced child labor in the cotton sector. While the central Government made concerted efforts to prevent and to remediate forced child labor in cotton production, Uzbekistan is receiving an assessment of no advancement because of government complicity in forced child labor, particularly at the local level. Although there was no evidence of a large-scale, centrally-coordinated, forced mobilization of children, some local officials, in more than an isolated incident, continued to mobilize children during the cotton harvest. In committing to end this practice, the Cabinet of Ministers declared its intent to ensure that no one under the age of 18 would participate in the cotton harvest; broadly communicated its new commitment through awareness-raising campaigns to prevent children from being forcibly mobilized to pick cotton; an