President attacks use of child labour in cotton sector

Turkmenistan President Saparmurat Niyazov has attacked the use of child and female labour in the Turkmen cotton industry, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported. In a formal review of the agricultural year on Thursday, Niyazov levelled specific criticism at the administrators of the Mary agricultural region for using women and children to hand pick cotton while 300 combine-harvesters were left idle at the peak of the harvest, the report said.

Niyazov blamed regional administrations for mismanagement, claiming only one in 10 had met annual raw cotton crop targets. Nine regional leaders were summarily dismissed and their replacements have been given six months to prove themselves by meeting next year’s harvesting targets.