CAT/C/UZB/CO/4 Forced labour and child labour 22. The Committee welcomes the information that young children up to ninth grade are no longer systematically involved in work in the cotton sector, but is concerned at reports that between 500,000 and 1.5 million adults and high-school student aged 15 to 17 continue to be mobilized to pick cotton for up to two months each autumn and that during that time, they live in substandard conditions, without access to safe drinking water (arts. 2 and 16). The Committee recommends that the State party should end the practice of using the forced labour of adults and children in the cotton sector and permit international and independent national non-governmental organizations and activists to conduct regular independent monitoring. Situation of refugees and non-refoulement 23. The Committee is particularly concerned at allegations that some individuals extradited from neighbouring countries have been subjected to torture and others detained incommunicado. The Committee is also concerned that nearly 200 refugees recognized by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) who reside in Uzbekistan are considered to be migrants and their specific protection needs are not recognized because of the absence of a refugee law in line with the international standards for the protection of refugees (arts. 2 and 3). The State party should ensure that individuals extradited to face trial in its courts are awarded the full protection of the Convention. The State party should adopt a refugee law that complies with the terms of the Convention. The State party should invite UNHCR to return and assist in protecting the refugee population. It should consider becoming party to the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951 and its Protocol of 1967. Forced sterilization of women 24. The Committee is seriously concerned at substantiated reports it has received that women who have given birth to two or more children, particularly in rural regions, have been subjected to sterilization procedures without informed consent (arts. 2, 12 and 16). The Committee recommends that the State party eliminate the sterilization of women without their informed consent, amounting to forced sterilization, and protect the reproductive rights of women. The Committee further recommends that the State party establish a confidential, independent complaints mechanism that can be easily accessed by women who allege that they have been subjected to sterilization procedures in the absence of their free and informed consent. Violence against women 25. The Committee is concerned by reports of cases of violence against women, including in places of detention and elsewhere, and notes the lack of information provided about prosecutions of persons for acts of violence against women. The Committee is further concerned that domestic violence and marital rape are not defined in the criminal law of the State party and at reports that law enforcement officers are dismissive of women’s complaints of such violence and that there are inadequate facilities available for women victims of such violence in the State party (arts. 2, 12, 13, 14 and 16). The State party should adopt specific legislative and other measures to prevent violence against women, including domestic violence. The State party should define and criminalize domestic violence and marital rape in its legislation and ensure that all women have access to adequate medical, social and legal services and temporary 9