There is a big difference between doing things we might not like, being assigned a task at work not to your particular liking, and being forced into a job by your government. And there is just a radical a difference between reading about forced labour in a textbook and speaking with someone who had experienced it first-hand.
Farmon Asadov is now a PhD researcher at Lancaster University, but before that he spent time as a forced labourer within Uzbekistan’s cotton industry. Farmon is here to tell us about his experiences in a country that only moved away from widespread forced labour in the last decade.
He also enlightens us the history of his country, why cotton has been such an important pillar of the Uzbek economy, and the intensive labour system that involved two million people being corralled by the government for each year’s harvest.
But most importantly, Farmon tells us how as a student he was sent to remote camps to carry out the cotton harvest, receiving little to no reward, and all framed as being his patriotic duty. We hear about the long hours of hard labour in intense heat, the sometimes-impossible quota targets they were set, and the punishments for not meeting them.
We discover the forces that brought about change to the state-imposed forced labour system, the influence of major corporations in the change, and how Uzbekistan tried to get around sanctions when the world clamped down on exports.
We find out how the cotton industry works now; how new markets have been grown; how supply chains have been built with international support; and how quickly new generations have no memories of the old system.
Plus, do your clothes have a label saying ‘Made in Uzbekistan’? Chances are you’ll be rooting around your wardrobes to find out. Meanwhile, Jan is already planning her next holiday on the old Silk Road to Samarkand – joining 10 million other annual tourists to the country.
Find out more about Farmon and his work within the Pentland Centre here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/pentland/about/meet-the-team/farmon-asadov
Discover the Better Cotton Initiative in Uzbekistan: https://bettercotton.org/where-is-better-cotton-grown/better-cotton-in-uzbekistan/
And learn about other groups here:
Cotton Campaign Uzbekistan: https://www.cottoncampaign.org/uzbekistan
Better Work Uzbekistan: https://www.betterwork.org/uzbekistan/
GIZ Uzbekistan: https://www.giz.de/en/downloads/giz2021_en_Factsheet_Cotton_Uzbekistan.pdf
Transforming Tomorrow
Sustainability is key for any business that wants to build a lasting legacy. From carbon footprints to biodiversity to modern slavery, seabeds to factory floors, everything matters.
On Transforming Tomorrow, we make the complex understandable, the theory practical, as we guide you through the ever-changing and often exciting world of sustainability in business.
Speaking to internationally renowned experts and business leaders, we uncover how to mainstream environmental, social and economic sustainability into purposeful business strategy and performance.
Whether you are leading transition in your business, want to build a corporation with a green heart or change your individual actions, or just want to know more about how space weather might affect your operations, Transforming Tomorrow is the show for you.
Hosts Jan and Paul bring insight, perspective, and not a little amount of disagreement, to all the subjects, helping you find the message among the madness.
Join us every Monday to uncover new insights and become a little more inspired that you can make a difference.
You can find transcripts for most episodes at: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/pentland/resources-for-education-and-practice/transforming-tomorrow-podcast/transcripts/
Send your questions on any of the issues we discuss in Transforming Tomorrow to [email protected] or fill in our feedback form here: https://forms.office.com/e/7Bw4rDiRDt
Find out more about the Pentland Centre and its work here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/pentland/
Meet the Hosts
Professor Jan Bebbington is the Director of the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business at Lancaster University. Jan is an expert on accounting, benchmarking (to her co-host’s annoyance), and how business and sustainability intersect.
Jan loves nature and wants to protect it – and hopes she can change the world (ideally for the better). She is also motivated to address inequality wherever it is found and especially to eliminate forced, bonded or child labour. Transforming Tomorrow is one small step on that quest.
Paul Turner is a former sports journalist who now works promoting the research activities in Lancaster University Management School – a poacher turned gamekeeper as his former colleagues would have it.
Paul has always been interested in nature and the natural environment – it comes from growing up in Cumbria – and has been a vocal proponent of the work of the Pentland Centre since joining Lancaster University. He does not like rankings and benchmarking, and is not afraid to say so.