Webinar: Turkmenistan Report Launch
On May 27, 2026, the Cotton Campaign Coalition hosted a webinar to discuss its most recent report, “Turkmenistan Cotton: State-Imposed Forced Labor in the Annual Cotton Harvest, High Risk in Global Supply Chains”. The report documents the use of state-imposed forced labor in the 2025 cotton harvest in Turkmenistan and shows trade routes through which Turkmen cotton enters global markets.
We had a thriving conversation addressing the following questions:
What is state-imposed forced labor? What does it mean that the Turkmen government uses state-imposed forced labor in the annual cotton harvest?
How does forced labor Turkmen cotton enter global markets? How can brands mitigate the risk of using Turkmen cotton in their products? What should governments do to ensure a level playing field across jurisdictions and eliminate Turkmen cotton from global supply chains?
What reforms are necessary to eradicate the use of state-imposed forced labor and develop an enabling environment for labor rights in Turkmenistan? How should key stakeholders—including governments, international organizations, and business groups—use their role and increase political and economic pressure on the Turkmen government to advance such reforms?
Our expert panel comprised:
Ruslan Myatiev, Director at turkmen.news
Cara Priestley, International and Thematic Advocacy Manager at Anti-Slavery International
Anna Cavazzini, Member of the European Parliament
Anasuya Syam, Human Rights and Trade Policy Director at The Human Trafficking Legal Center
Dr Laura Murphy, Fellow at Harvard Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights
Aynabat Yaylymova, Director at Progres Foundation
Chaired by Raluca Dumitrescu, Senior Coordinator Cotton Campaign at Global Labor Justice
