Contesting Labour Violations in Uzbekistan’s Cotton Fields

Abstract

This article shares a co-written work and life biography of a prominent female international human rights defender working to strengthen civil society in Uzbekistan. We centre the article on the experience of Malika Nazar, who was falsely imprisoned and remains a person of interest to the authorities. Drawing on participant reflexivity interviews, a workshop and a public lecture, we contribute to the literature on coercive labour and actor agency in supply chains and Global Value Chains (GVCs) at a time of authoritarian crackdowns on activists across Uzbek society and in a context where labour rights monitors continue to face major threats and risks. The central contribution of this OtFL article is to showcase work and its tensions rooted in the Global East.