Uzbek union activist Fakhriddin Tillayev (right), in prison on a 10-year sentence and subjected to torture for attempting to organize an independent union for day laborers, was released over the weekend. Tillayev’s release was among the results sought by a Cotton Campaign delegation in Uzbekistan this week for unprecedented meetings to discuss the eradication of forced labor. Human Rights Watch, the Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights, Cotton Campaign staff and the Solidarity Center all followed Tillayev’s case closely since his sentencing in 2014 and raised demands for his release in each meeting with the government. Find out more at the Solidarity Center.