On April 3, 89 civil society organizations signed a joint statement calling on the IFC and the EBRD to ensure remedy and accountability, for the severe and systemic violations at Indorama Agro cotton project, Uzbekistan. You can find the statement in English below and in Uzbek here.
We, the undersigned civil society organizations, call on the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to take urgent and concrete action to remedy the severe harms inflicted on workers and communities by Indorama Agro, a cotton producing company in Uzbekistan that received $130 million financing from both institutions.
Third party labour assessments and independent monitoring findings confirm systemic labor rights violations by Indorama Agro, including unpaid wages, contract violations, union-busting tactics, retaliations against workers and rights monitors, and the lack of an effective grievance redress mechanism.
Indorama Agro has systematically eroded workers’ rights by exploiting their vulnerability created by insecure working conditions whereby employees have been misclassified as “service providers”, depriving some 400 workers of trade union membership and safeguards and benefits under employment law. Public monitors have documented multiple cases of workers being coerced to work without pay under the threat of non-renewal of their contracts—an indicator of forced labor.
Furthermore, government officials and Indorama Agro representatives have intimidated and harassed workers to silence those who speak out. Civil society organisations have documented over 80 incidents in which workers were subjected to threatening calls and visits from local authorities, police, security services, and company representatives in retaliation for reporting rights violations and engaging with civil society organisations.
Alongside labor violations, the project also resulted in the economic displacement of some 10,000 farmers and farm workers through land seizures obtained without free, prior and informed consent. Indorama Agro failed to implement required livelihood restoration measures, leaving thousands without access to land and income.
In January 2025, the IFC informed civil society organisations that Indorama Agro had exited the project early by prepaying its loans to both lenders while serious labor rights abuses remain unaddressed.
The EBRD and the IFC project documents acknowledged the risks associated with the project prior to loan approval, yet failed to mitigate them effectively. Despite repeated reports of rights violations at Indoram Agro to the EBRD and the IFC by civil society organizations over a period of four years, lenders continued to disburse loan payments without ensuring their client complied with environmental and social safeguards.
Without a functioning grievance mechanism, independent trade union representation, or public monitoring, thousands of affected workers and farmers are now isolated, voiceless, and unprotected without justice or restitution.
We, therefore, call on the IFC and the EBRD to take the following urgent actions:
- Establish a remediation program to restore the livelihoods of displaced farmers.
- Ensure the payment of unpaid wages and bonuses to workers by leveraging Indorama’s global partnerships and/or creating a worker compensation fund if Indorama refuses to comply.
- Engage with the Uzbek government to ensure full compliance with labor assessment corrective actions.
- Ensure accountability for retaliatory actions against workers and public monitors.
- Support capacity-building initiatives for workers affected by the project, equipping them with the necessary skills to actively participate in decision-making on labor rights and working conditions.
- Conduct and disclose an independent evaluation of the project’s environmental and social impacts.
The EBRD and the IFC must take responsibility for the harm by leveraging their influence with Indorama globally and with the Uzbek government to ensure that remedy is achieved, further loss of livelihood is prevented and an environment is created where farmers and workers can improve their working conditions without fear of reprisal.
Failure to do so will not only deny thousands of people justice but will also expose both institutions as enablers of labor exploitation and embolden abusive actors to exit projects early with impunity. This will convey the message that development finance institutions prioritize corporate interests over human rights—a message that must not stand.
According to one worker, “This news [the IFC and the EBRD exit] has affected me very badly. It is very painful. We were hoping for something to change. Unfortunately, they fired us. The company is paying its loans with the money they stole from us.”
We stand in solidarity with the affected people seeking justice and will continue to hold the IFC and the EBRD accountable for those harmed by their investments.
Signatories
AbibiNsroma Foundation | Ghana
Accountability Counsel | Global
Actions pour la conservation de la nature et le développement communautaire (ACNDC) | DRC
African Law Foundation (AFRILAW) | Nigeria
Alliance for Rural Democracy (ARD) | Liberia
Alternatives ménages, nature et marchés (AMEN) | DRC
Anti-Slavery International | UK
Association Central Asia | Uzbekistan
Association for Land Reform & Development (ALRD) | Bangladesh
Bangladesh Food Security Network (KHANI Bangladesh) | Bangladesh
Bank Information Center | USA
Bir Duino – Kyrgyzstan | Kyrgyzstan
Buliisa Initiative for Rural Development Organisation | Uganda
Cambodian Youth Network Association (C.Y.N) | Cambodia
CEE Bankwatch Network | Czech Republic
Central Asia Due Diligence | UK
Centre de défense des Droits de l’Homme et Démocratie (CDHD) | DRC
Centre for community mobilization and support NGO | Armenia
Centre for Environment, Human Rights & Development Forum (CEHRDF) | Bangladesh
Centre for Research and Advocacy, Manipur | India
Centre for the polical economy of labour – Strathclyde University | Scotland
Child Labor Coalition | US
Coalition des ONG Oeuvrants dans le secteurs de mines, Environnement et Eléctricité | DRC
Community Land Action Now! (CLAN) | Kenya
Community Resource Centre | Thailand
COMPPART Foundation for Justice and Peacebuilding | Nigeria
Conseil Regional des Organisations Non Gouvernementales de développement | DRC
Defenders in Development campaign | Global
Disability Peoples Forum Uganda | Uganda
Ecolur Informational NGO | Armenia
European Coalition for Corporate Justice (ECCJ) | Europe
Foundation for community driven development | Tanzania
Freedom for Eurasia | Austria
Freedom United | US
Friends of Franbarnie International (FOFI) | Liberia
Friends with Environment in Development | Uganda
GAIA Asia Pacific | Asia Pacific
Gender Action | USA
Global Labor Justice (GLJ) | Global
Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) | UK / Ireland
Green Advocates International | Liberia
Green Alternative | Georgia
Green Leaf Advocacy and Empowerment Center | Nigeria
Human Rights Organization of Uzbekistan Ezgulik | Uzbekistan
Indigenous Women Legal Awareness Group (INWOLAG) | Nepal
Inisiasi Masyarakat Adat (IMA) | Indonesia
Initiative for Right View | Bangladesh
Innovation pour le Développement et la Protection de l’Environnement | DRC
Institute of pastoralism Development and Research | Kenya
Instituto Maíra | Brazil
International Accountability Project | India
International Union of Food, Agricultural and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF) | Global / Switzerland
Jamaa Resource Initiatives | Kenya
JUHUDI Community Support Center | Kenya
JusticeMakers Bangladesh in France (JMBF) | France
Kazakhstan International bureau for human rights and rule of law | Kazakhstan
Koalisi Rakyat untuk Hak atas Air (KRuHA) / people’s coalition for the right to water | Indonesia
Land Home Justice Network | UK
Lawyers’ Association for Human Rights of Nepalese Indigenous Peoples (LAHURNIP) | Nepal
Lumière Synergie pour le Développement (LSD) | Senegal
Mae Nam Khone Institute | Myanmar
MenaFem Movement for Economic Development and Ecological Justice | Middle East and North Africa
National Consumers League | US
National Indigenous Women Forum | Nepal
Neighbourhood Environment Watch Foundation | Nigeria
NGO Forum on ADB | Asia
NGO Taraqqiet | Tajikistan
ONG Acadehlib | Cameroon
OT Watch | Mongolia
Phenix Center for Sustainable Development | Jordan
Ponlok Khmer | Cambodia
Psychological Responsiveness NGO | Mongolia
Recourse | The Netherlands
Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean | Latin America
Rivers Without Borders Mongolia | Mongolia
Samata | India
Sengwer Indigenous Community Trust | Kenya
Sindh Agriultur Research Council (SARC) | Pakistan
STAR Kampuchea (SK) | Cambodia
Steps Without Borders NGO | Mongolia
Sukaar Welfare Organization | Pakistan
Task Force Mapalad National Peasant Federation | Philippines
The Awakening | Pakistan
The Oakland Institute | US
University of Ulster | UK
Urgewald e.V. | Germany
Uzbek Forum for Human Rights | Germany / Uzbekistan
WALHI / Friends of the Earth Indonesia | Indonesia
Youth for Green Communities | Uganda
Timeline
- In 2019, a presidential decree allocating 50,000 hectares of land in two regions to Indorama Agro resulted in the arbitrary termination of thousands of farmers’ land leases without free, prior and informed consent.
- From 2020 to 2024, Uzbek Forum for Human Rights and Bankwatch held regular meetings with the EBRD, the IFC, and initially Indorama Agro management to raise concerns about ongoing labor rights violations.
- In March 2021, workers established Uzbekistan’s only known democratically elected trade union to respond to mass redundancies, abuse of labor contracts and low pay.
- Even prior to its formation, trade union members reported harassment and intimidation by Indorama Agro management, government officials and representatives of the state-aligned Federation of Trade Unions of Uzbekistan (FTUU), as well as attempts to stage illegitimate leadership elections.
- In 2022-2024, third-party labour assessments conducted at the request of the lenders revealed multiple instances of non-compliance and confirmed the rights violations CSOs had been reporting for years.
- In January 2022, after the trade union had successfully negotiated full-time employment contracts for some 370 farmworkers that replaced unlawful civil law contracts, Indorama Agro unilaterally changed them to so-called Nano Unit Worker (NUW) contracts that automatically expired after 12 months. These NUW contracts transferred excessive responsibilities from the company to workers who risked punitive measures for failing to fulfill them, such as hefty financial penalties and non-renewal of contracts. However, workers retained their employee status and trade union membership.
- In December 2022, these same farmworkers were told that their NUW contracts would be replaced with Nano Unit contracts (NUCs), which misclassified them as service providers. This eliminated their eligibility for trade union membership and removed statutory worker protections and benefits.
- In 2023-2024, the IFC and the EBRD conducted site visits but engaged with only a limited number of affected workers and farmers due to the risk of retaliations.
- In January 2023, 44 workers filed complaints to the courts based on the change to their contracts that were not negotiated with the trade union as required under the Uzbek Labor Code. Workers then withdrew their complaints following intimidation and threats from company management and local officials.
- From 2023-2024, workers reported surveillance, threats and intimidation from company management and government officials for speaking out and were warned “not to speak to international organizations”.
- In August 2023, a group of Indorama Agro workers were prevented through various tactics from traveling to Almaty in Kazakhstan to attend a labor rights workshop by state security service agents. They were explicitly warned against speaking to international organizations.
- In January and April 2024, two Uzbek Forum monitors were threatened with criminal charges unless they stopped their monitoring of the Indorama Agro project. One monitor was told it was “dangerous for their life”.
- In August 2023, Uzbek Forum and Bankwatch filed a request for compliance review with IPAM, the EBRD’s independent accountability mechanism.
- In September 2023, farmworkers informed CSOs they were being forced to sign agreements to accept no pay for two months of the year, in violation of their contracts.
- In April 2024, farmers informed CSOs that Indorama Agro refused to pay them their contractually agreed bonuses for exceeding production targets.
- In November 2024, IPAM disclosed its compliance assessment, noting the contextual human rights risk in Uzbekistan and risk of retaliations, and initiated an investigation which is expected to be concluded in the third quarter of 2025.
- December 2024: During a meeting with CSOs, the IFC expressed frustration at the lack of progress of Indorama Agro in complying with safeguards.
- In January 2025, the IFC announced prepayment and early exit by the client, leaving workers and project-affected people without redress or prospect of restoring their livelihoods.
- Between November 2024 and January 2025, CSOs received information that an estimated 60-80 workers were carrying out unpaid work under the threat their contracts would not be renewed.
Additional resources
- If you wish to sign on the statement, please add your signature here.
- You can check a social media package here.
- If you are a journalist interested in covering the story, please check out this media briefing.
Press contact: Lorena Cotza (Comms Lead – Coalition for Human Rights in Development): lcotza@rightsindevelopment.org
