Forced cotton pickers in Uzbekistan told to keep quiet about their cotton work

http://www.uznews.net/en/human-rights/27768-forced-cotton-pickers-in-uzbekistan-told-to-keep-quiet-about-their-cotton-work



A 66-year-old Tashkent province resident picking cotton © Human Rights Alliance


Yet another method of preventing human rights activists from collecting accurate information on forced cotton laborers was witnessed in the fields this past weekend: Secret service employees ran ahead of activists and “advised” cotton pickers to keep silent.

Elena Urlaeva, the head of the Human Rights Alliance of Uzbekistan, experienced this new method first-hand during her monitoring activities of cotton fields near the town of Krasnogorsk in Tashkent province’s Parkentsky district on September 28.

Urlaeva reported that young men in two cars followed her from Tashkent. As soon as she would stop on the edge of a field they would run ahead and tell cotton pickers not to speak with her.

FULL story at link.