The European Parliament is moving to endorse a 2011 EU Uzbekistan textiles agreement it had previously rejected. Uzbekistan came under fire for engaging in child labour and forced labour in its cotton and fabrics industry. But reported progress on that front and an EU desire to deepen its footprint in Central Asia have contributed to changing minds.
The EU has taken a stop-gap approach to strengthening ties with Central Asian countries. A 2007 Central Asia strategy spearheaded by Germany contributed to mending ties with Tashkent after a 2005 massacre against hundreds of regime opponents in Andijan that led to sanctions. After the 2014 Ukraine crisis, Latvia initiated fresh moves on behalf of the EU to deepen relations with the region.
The EU’s approach is based on dialogues and aid programmes, moves to encourage trade and investment, technology transfers, as well as cultural and educational exchanges.
With the recent passing away of Uzbekistan’s arch-authoritarian ruler Islam Karimov, some in the EU see a window of opportunity to deepen the dialogue with the very closed Central Asian nation.
One of the gestures the EU is making is to revive plans to open up EU textiles markets to Uzbek exports.
An initial move to do so in 2011 was shelved after the European Parliament rejected a protocol to a 1990s Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the EU and Uzbekistan. Back in 2011, the EU legislature conditioned any change of mind on Uzbekistan allowing International Labour Organization inspectors take a look at the situation in the country, and on tangible progress in the human rights situation for textile and cotton workers.
Uzbekistan gradually obliged, helped by moneys from the World Bank channelled to monitoring the labour situation and improving the legal and institutional framework for labour rights. The EU parliament is now doing its share.
A draft report on whether to approve the 2011 textiles deal currently circulation and prepared by Belgian socialist MEP Maria Arena is “of the opinion that because of these efforts by the Government of Uzbekistan, Parliament should give consent to the EU-Uzbekistan Textiles Protocol”. It cites a 2015 ILO report that notes progress in implementing one of its Decent Work programmes, and in almost completely eradicating child labour.
Yet the situation in Uzbekistan remains far from rosy: forced labour in cotton fields still appears widespread. The US-based human rights NGO Cotton Campaign deplores that “according to both the ILO’s final monitoring report and independent Uzbek monitors, there is convincing evidence the government of Uzbekistan continued to use forced labor in 2015 by compelling through various means more than one million citizens to grow and pick cotton”.
A formal decision by the Parliament is expected during the autumn 2016. Imports can be liberalised swiftly after a green light from the EU’s legislature.
Trade between the EU and Uzbekistan stood at a mere € 1.7 bn in 2015, according to EU Commission data. Some 15 percent of Uzbek exports to the EU are textile articles. The bulk of Uzbek’s meagre exports are chemicals.
