Forced labour still ongoing problem in Turkmenistan cotton production

Human Rights Research Center
17 hours ago
2 min read

May 29, 2025

HRRC strongly condemns the continual use of forced labour by the government in Turkmenistan. State workers are mobilised against their will into cotton fields, and any signs of disagreement are met with threats of redundancy and loss of income.

Women harvesting cotton in Turkmenistan [Image credit: Pixels]

A recent report into Turkmenistan cotton has uncovered the startling fact that state-imposed forced labour is still heavily embedded within the industry. The government enforces an order that leads to tens of thousands of public sector workers leaving their jobs to harvest cotton.

In the past year the government in the capital city Ashgabat set out a plan that would lead to the eradication of forced labour, however human rights experts have stated that progress has been unreasonably slow. The minor steps that have been taken are only of benefit to a small proportion of state workers. For example, some doctors and teachers working in regional areas were not mobilised, but for thousands of others the situation has remained the same.

As most social sector workers are women, they make up the vast proportion of people being forced into the fields. They also often lack the financial backing to pay for a substitute, one of the only approaches in which an individual can remove themselves from the forced manual work. Any urge to speak out is also hindered by the fact that people are worried they might lose their jobs, and subsequently be left with no source of income.

Further afield, agreements are in place in many parts of the world in which countries agree not to use cotton that has been produced using state-imposed forced labour, but organisations like Cotton Campaign propose that this is only effective if clothing companies map out their entire cotton supply chain.

Turkmenistan is the 10th biggest producer of cotton in the world, and it is believed around 80% of their raw cotton exports go into Turkey. This then presents an issue as a high proportion of well-known High Street fashion brands such as Zara and H&M are known to sell products manufactured there.

The risk of Turkmen cotton appearing in stores around the world is a real one, and therefore pressure needs to be put on the government of Turkmenistan from all angles to immediately halt the use of state-imposed forced labour.

Glossary

Embedded – firmly fixed or placed within something
Eradication – the complete removal or destruction of something
Forced labour – work that people are made to do against their will
Further afield – in more distant or remote places
Halt – to stop or bring to a stop
High Street – the main street in a town where shops and businesses are located
Hindered – delayed or made difficult
Mobilised – gathered and prepared for action or use
Redundancy – when someone loses their job because it is no longer needed
Social sector – the part of the economy that provides public services like education and health
Startling – very surprising or shocking
Substitute – a person or thing used in place of another
Supply chain – the network of people and companies involved in producing and delivering a product
Unfeasibly – in a way that is not realistic or possible

Sources

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Forced labour still ongoing problem in Turkmenistan cotton production

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