UN Human Rights Committee Urges Turkmenistan to End Forced Labor in Cotton
Independent Monitoring Crucial to Forced Labor Reform Process
March 28, 2023
(Washington, D.C.) The government of Turkmenistan should intensify its efforts to eliminate state-imposed forced labor in the cotton sector, in line with recommendations of the UN Human Rights Committee, the Cotton Campaign said. The Committee, which reviewed Turkmenistan in March, raised strong concerns about the forced mobilization of civil servants to pick cotton, in violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and urged concrete steps to end this egregious practice.
Ahead of the review, the Cotton Campaign, a global coalition against forced labor, provided its expert review to the Committee on the root causes and mechanisms of the government-controlled forced labor system in Turkmenistan, as well as recommendations for structural reforms. The Human Rights Committee reiterated its earlier call to the government of Turkmenistan, made in 2017, to eliminate forced labor in the cotton sector, and recommended the government increase labor inspections and establish an effective complaint mechanism for adults and children in forced labor.
“The Committee’s conclusions provide yet further authoritative evidence that the government of Turkmenistan’s practice of forcing public sector employees, on a massive scale, to pick cotton every year violates international law”, said Allison Gill, Forced Labor Program Director at Global Labor Justice-International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF), which hosts the Cotton Campaign. “The good news is that reform is possible. The government should start by ending reprisals against independent monitors who document labor conditions in the cotton fields. Allowing independent reporting is a crucial step to ending forced labor.”
During the review, the government of Turkmenistan denied that forced labour occurs in the country, asserting that the increased use of harvest technology means that mass mobilization of human resources is “not needed”. Whilst it is true there has been an increase in mechanization of sowing, independent sources report that hand picking remains prevalent, especially for the first part of the harvest, when cotton is plentiful and at its most valuable.
“Evidence collected by independent labor monitors—including video and audio recordings, testimonies of pickers, and official government documents—shows that every year, cotton is harvested with state-imposed forced labor, even though Turkmen officials publicly deny it” said Ruslan Myatiev, director of Turkmen News, a member of the Cotton Campaign. “The government has the power to change this system and a high-level acknowledgement of the problem will help demonstrate the political will to find solutions, instead of harassing and attacking anyone who dares to speak out.”
The Turkmen government continues to exert control over all aspects of public life and to severely repress all civic and labor freedoms, which are crucial to combating forced labor. All civil society organizations that scrutinize the government of Turkmenistan, including Cotton Campaign members Turkmen News and the Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights, must work from exile, and the independent labor monitors and informants who provide evidence of forced labor conditions during the harvest do so at great personal risk.
During the Human Rights Committee’s review of Turkmenistan, the Turkmen government also engaged in greenwashing, alleging that it had cooperated with home textiles giant IKEA, on labor issues in the cotton harvest. In fact, in 2017, IKEA banned the use of Turkmen cotton in its products after ceasing a project in Turkmenistan because of the country’s lack of progress on forced and bonded labor. Moreover, 140 other global brands and retailers have committed to not use Turkmen cotton in their products as long as it is produced with state-imposed forced labor.
“Turkmen cotton is explicitly banned in the U.S. and the import or sale of products made with forced labor are prohibited in increasingly more jurisdictions”, said Raluca Dumitrescu, Coordinator of the Cotton Campaign. ”If Turkmenistan is interested in engagement with global brands, it must first take concrete steps towards meaningful reform.”
The Human Rights Committee's Concluding Observations add to a growing list of concerns about the use of state-imposed forced labor in Turkmen cotton by UN experts across the board, including a 2021 ‘Communication’ from the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, and a 2022 ‘Observation’ from the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations. The Cotton Campaign urges the government of Turkmenistan to engage constructively and in good faith with the ILO, UN human and labor rights monitors, such as the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, and independent civil society organisations with expertise on state-imposed forced labor.
Contact information
For media inquiries, please contact Raluca Dumitrescu, Cotton Campaign Coordinator at coordinator@cottoncampaign.org
The Cotton Campaign is a coalition of human and labor rights NGOs, independent trade unions, brand and retail associations, responsible investor organizations, supply chain transparency groups, and academic partners united to end forced labor and promote decent work for cotton workers in Central Asia.
