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Activists at the Human Rights Alliance of Uzbekistan have sued Tashkent’s Mirzo-Ulugbek district for 100 million som (the Uzbek currency) for damage inflicted on thousands of schoolchildren and teachers who were forced to pick cotton last autumn despite a government pledge not to use child labour. Activist Yelena Urlayeva believes that this lawsuit will alert the authorities and prevent them from sending children to cotton fields this autumn. “We were promised last summer and we will be promised in future, but what will this change?” she asked. The alliance decided to file the suit after the Education Ministry denied that children were involved in cotton picking last autumn. Activists submitted documentary proof of child labour collected last autumn and demand that officials be punished for telling lies. Further information