Many everyday products we use in the UK, from clothes to coffee, are linked to forced labour. Around the world, millions of people are exploited to make them, while companies here profit. Right now, businesses choose whether to act. That’s not good enough. Protecting people and the planet must be the law. We’re calling for a new UK law to hold companies accountable when they fail to prevent human rights abuses or environmental harm in their supply chains.

As the annual cotton harvest commences and Turkmenistan marks Independence Day on 27 September, business and human rights policy and research officer, Rocio Domingo Ramos, sheds light on the continued practice of forced labour in the country’s cotton industry.