Advocate for worker rights was due to meet with international organizations on forced labor in the cotton industry.
Uzbek police detained prominent local human rights advocate Elena Urlaeva (pictured) on 1 March and placed her in a Tashkent psychiatric facility, Reuters reported, citing Human Rights Watch. The detention came a day before the activist planned to meet with the World Bank, the International Labor Organization, and the International Organization of Trade Unions to discuss the issue of forced labor in UzbekistanΆs cotton industry.
"The policemen beat me, tearing my clothes, to prevent me from going to [the meeting],” Urlaeva said in a video released online.
Under new president Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Uzbek authorities have shown signs of easing the brutal treatment of dissidents that marked the long rule of late leader Islam Karimov. But moves such as the release of imprisoned journalist Muhammad Bekzhanov mask the fact that dozens of political prisoners remain behind bars, human rights groups charge.
Urlaeva has had many run-ins with the authorities over her exposure of involuntary labor in the cotton fields. According to the Cotton Campaign pressure group, she was involuntarily detained in a psychiatric facility for more than a month just under a year ago, and was arrested five times in 2015.
Human rights groups allege she has been subjected to physical, sexual, and emotional abuse for her work, Reuters says.
The government had not commented on UrlaevaΆs detention, Reuters reported on 7 March.
The use of involuntary labor on cotton farms has been her main focus for many years, RFE/RL writes. In a video produced by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Urlaeva is seen visiting a cotton field and informing workers of their protections against forced labor.
In February journalist Muhammad Bekzhanov was freed after spending 17 years in prison, Amnesty International reported. AI claimed he was subjected to torture and other abuse and was forced to confess to charges of involvement in terrorist acts in 1999.
The United States praised Tashkent for the release of Bekzhanov but expressed concern over the cases of Urlaeva and other dissidents, Reuters said.
