Watch: Hellish Work, Tobacco Workers in Kazakhstan

With Jane Buchanan, senior researcher in the Europe and Central Asia Division of Human Rights Watch.

Every year, tens of thousands of migrant workers from Kyrgyzstan travel to the Central Asian economic powerhouse of Kazakhstan in search of employment. Thousands of these migrant workers, often together with their children, find work in tobacco farming, where many are subjected to abuse and exploitation by employers supplying tobacco to Philip Morris Kazakhstan, a subsidiary of Philip Morris International, one of the world's largest tobacco companies.

 

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Comments

[Friggles]

01:34 AM on 07/16/2010

I hope P.M is true to their word.

[Low Prices are Good]

12:48 AM on 07/16/2010

"Thousands of these migrant workers, often together with their children, find work in tobacco farming, where many are subjected to abuse and exploitation by employers supplying tobacco to Philip Morris Kazakhstan, a subsidiary of Philip Morris International, one of the world's largest tobacco companies."

If the work is so bad, the US should pass a minimum wage law and put OSHA in charge of workers safety. The US should also impose that these people get Obama care, can contribute to a 401k, workers comp, and maybe even get a company camel. This will make their lives much better and it will make tobacco more expensive for the consumer.