Recommendations

The Government of Turkmenistan should:

• Enforce national laws that prohibit the use of forced and child labor in alignment with ratified ILO conventions.

• Make public, high-level policy statements condemning forced labor, specifically including forced labor in the cotton sector, and making clear that all work should be voluntary and fairly compensated.

• Instruct government officials at all levels and citizens that act on behalf of the government not to use coercion to mobilize anyone to work.

• Initiate fair judicial processes that conform to international standards against government officials found to have forced citizens to work, including in the cotton sector, and hold accountable those found guilty with penalties that reflect the severity of the crime and serve as a deterrent for future crimes.

• Allow independent monitors, journalists, human rights defenders, and other individuals and organizations to document and report labor conditions without fear of reprisal.

• Initiate a time-bound plan to reform root causes of forced labor in the agriculture sector, including:

  • Cease punitive measures against farmers for debts and not meeting state-mandated production quotas for cotton and other agricultural products.

  • Ensure the state-established procurement prices for cotton, wheat, and silk reflect the costs of production, including costs of voluntary labor at market rates, and, over time, abolish the state monopsony on cotton, wheat, and silk purchasing.

  • Increase financial transparency in the agriculture sector, including by ensuring national budgets include expenditures and income in the agriculture sector.

  • Abolish mandatory production quotas and grant farmers autonomous management of agricultural land.

• Fully cooperate with UN bodies to ensure government implementation of its obligations under UN and ILO conventions, including by allowing unhindered access to the country to UN agencies and human rights monitors, such as the ILO, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, and all other UN Special Procedures.

• Fully implement the recommendations made by UN Treaty Bodies, Special Procedures, and the ILO supervisory mechanisms, including the UN Human Rights Committee’s 2023 and 2017 Concluding Observations, the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations 2022 Observation, and the 2021 communication of the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery.

In particular, to the Ombudsman of Turkmenistan should:

• Develop a system of independent monitoring of forced labor during the cotton harvest and present the findings in the Ombudsman’s annual report.

• Set up a mechanism where Turkmenistan’s citizens can report instances of illegal coercion to work in the cotton fields and receive remedy.

Governments should:

• Introduce import control measures to prohibit the import of cotton products originating in Turkmenistan or containing Turkmen cotton.

• Introduce tracing mechanisms and transparent customs data to enable the monitoring of imports of Turkmen cotton or goods produced with Turkmen cotton.

• Ensure trade and development policies do not inadvertently support or enable the continuation of the state-imposed forced labor system.

• Introduce mandatory human rights due diligence and transparency laws, which require all forms of business enterprises (including textile companies, cotton traders, and financial institutions) to undertake human rights due diligence in their supply chains, and to map and disclose all tiers of their supply chains.

• Investigate and prosecute companies operating on domestic territory that are violating international and national laws by benefiting from or contributing to the forced labor system of cotton production in Turkmenistan.

• Exercise “voice and vote” at the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and other international finance institutions to prevent any investment that would benefit the Turkmen government’s forced labor cotton production system.

• Prior to providing any development assistance to the agriculture sector in Turkmenistan, require the Turkmen government to begin to dismantle its forced labor system of production and to make demonstrable progress as a condition for releasing project finance.

• Support labor and human rights defenders in Turkmenistan, including by raising concerns about ill-treatment against them at the highest levels of the Turkmen government, meeting with labor and human rights defenders, and publicly expressing concerns when people are harassed for conducting human rights work.

• Leverage human rights mechanisms, such as sanctions, to pressure the Turkmen government to end the state-imposed forced labor system.

• Engage bilaterally using diplomatic channels, such as engagement with Turkmen embassies, to place pressure on the Turkmen government to end the state-imposed forced labor system.

• Raise the issue of forced labor in the cotton sector in international and regional fora, such as in

• UN Universal Periodic Review recommendations, within the ILO system, and in bilateral and multilateral human rights dialogues.

In particular, the US government should:

• Maintain Turkmenistan at Tier 3 ranking — the lowest possible ranking — in the State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, for as long as the Turkmen government refuses to acknowledge the state-imposed forced labor problem and take meaningful steps to address it.

In particular, the US Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP) should:

• Detain all shipments of goods containing cotton products from Turkmenistan.

• Develop a strategy to identify and review shipments of cotton products from suppliers in third countries — including but not limited to Turkey, Pakistan, Poland, and Italy — that import cotton and semi-finished cotton goods from Turkmenistan. The onus should be on importers to show that they have no exposure to Turkmen cotton.

• Publish the list of detentions made and the value of the shipments detained under the WRO against Turkmen cotton, which has been in effect since 2018.

• Work together with the office of the US Trade Representatives, Canada Border Services Agency, and Employment and Social Development Canada to encourage enforcement of the labor provisions of the USCMA and ensure that products subject to the WRO over Turkmen forced labor cotton allegations are not permitted to enter Canada.

• Share information and proactively engage with civil society organizations and experts in supply chain research, including the Cotton Campaign and its partners, to enhance efforts to trace Turkmen cotton in the value chain and identify points of entry into the US.

In particular, the Canada Border Services Agency should:

• Publicly recognize cotton goods originating in Turkmenistan or containing Turkmen cotton as goods produced with state-imposed forced labor and introduce a country wide ban against cotton from Turkmenistan, similar to the US WRO.

• Detain all shipments of goods made with cotton products from Turkmenistan.

• Develop a strategy to identify and review shipments of cotton products from suppliers in third countries — including but not limited to Turkey, Pakistan, Poland, and Italy — that import cotton and semi-finished cotton goods from Turkmenistan. The onus should be on importers to show that they have no exposure to Turkmen cotton.

• Publish the list of detentions made and the value of the shipments detained under the Customs Tariff item No. 9897.00.00.

• Work together with US and Mexico counterparts to ensure enforcement of the USMCA forced labor provisions and that products subject to the US WRO over Turkmen forced labor cotton allegations are not permitted to enter Canada.

• Share information and proactively engage with civil society organizations and experts in supply chain research, including the Cotton Campaign and its partners, to enhance efforts to trace Turkmen cotton in the value chain and identify points of entry into Canada.

In particular, EU institutions should:

• Address the gaps and loopholes in the proposed forced labor regulation to effectively ban products made by forced labor from entering the EU market, specifically:

  • Ensure that the proposed legislative instrument is enforceable on a regional basis, such as against Turkmenistan, and also against specific entities, manufacturers, importers, and groups thereof.

  • Publicly recognize cotton goods originating in Turkmenistan or containing Turkmen cotton as goods produced with forced labor and ensure these products are covered in the scope of the import ban.

  • Include mechanisms to liaise and coordinate with authorities in other jurisdictions, i.e., Canada and the US, to share evidence and investigation processes, and align enforcement procedures.

• Regarding the EU’s proposed Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, with the trilogue negotiations between the Commission, Parliament, and Council, the EU must ensure that the strength of the final text of the directive is not diluted, and that it contemplates an effective implementation and monitoring process that puts affected people at its center.

• Take steps to amend the Union Customs Code to ensure the transparency and public accessibility of customs data. This would enhance the efforts of civil society organizations to monitor the global supply chains; trace products made with forced labor, including Turkmen cotton; and strengthen enforcement of the aforementioned legislation.

• Consult with civil society organizations and experts in state-imposed forced labor and human rights due diligence, including the Cotton Campaign and its Turkmen NGO partners, in the process of developing both the forced labor instrument and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.

The ILO should:

• Establish, monitor, and report on clear benchmarks for the government of Turkmenistan to fulfill its commitments to implement the fundamental labor conventions of the ILO, including the elimination of state-orchestrated forced labor of children and adults in its cotton sector.

• Ensure the meaningful participation of the International Organization of Employers (IOE), International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and International Union of Food and Agriculture Workers (IUF), in addition to regular consultation with the Cotton Campaign and its independent Turkmen civil society partner organizations in the development and implementation of all monitoring and technical assistance activities in Turkmenistan.

• Ensure that all ILO-led monitoring includes the participation of independent civil society experts and adapts the ILO Indicators of Forced Labor to adequately capture state-imposed forced labor.

• Raise concerns about the safety and access of independent monitors publicly and at the highest levels, and make clear that their ability to work unimpeded is a vital sign of the government’s good faith and a requirement for ILO assistance.

• Ensure that all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty, explicit or implied, is reported as forced labor, and include extortion for payments to cotton pickers as a component of the forced labor system that needs to be addressed in its analyses.

• In discussions with government, make clear that ending state-imposed forced labor in Turkmenistan requires a broader enabling of labor rights, including freedom of association, collective bargaining, and other civil and political rights such as freedom of expression.

• Ensure that public awareness measures be accompanied by steps to end coercive recruitment and real public accountability measures against officials for illegal practices.

Brands and retailers should:

• Sign the Turkmen Cotton Pledge and publicly commit to not use cotton from Turkmenistan while it is produced with state-orchestrated forced labor.

• Immediately terminate any direct sourcing relationships with suppliers in Turkmenistan.

• Fully map the brand’s supply chains to the raw materials level and eliminate cotton originating in Turkmenistan.

• Establish a legally-binding policy that prohibits the use of cotton from Turkmenistan in the brand’s products, and publish the policy on the brand’s website.

• Include this requirement in all of the brand’s purchase orders with finished goods suppliers, as well as in relevant contractual instruments governing the supply of manufacturing inputs, including cotton. This necessitates going beyond existing references to “zero tolerance of forced labor” or other similar language in supplier requirements.

• Engage suppliers, including mid- and low- tier suppliers, to ensure their policy compliance with the requirement to not use Turkmen cotton. In accordance with the OECD Guidelines, if specific suppliers have failed to mitigate the risk of using Turkmen cotton, it is best practice to terminate the business relationship.

• Verify compliance with the policy on cotton from Turkmenistan, and ensure purchasing practices support its implementation.

• Publish all suppliers in the brand’s cotton supply chains, including those beyond Tier 1.

• Take steps to remediate harms caused by selling goods produced with forced labor, including by publicly condemning trade in these goods, and engaging with the Cotton Campaign to support efforts to end forced labor in Turkmenistan.

Companies operating in Turkmenistan should:

• Refuse demands to contribute personnel, cash, or in-kind to the cotton harvest, and report requests for such contributions publicly and to the government of Turkmenistan.

• Communicate to the government of Turkmenistan that investment requires no involvement by the company with forced labor, and divest if involvement in the forced labor system of cotton production is required.

Investors should:

• Urge companies that use cotton to sign the Turkmen Cotton Pledge and publicly commit to not using Turkmen cotton in their products.

• Urge companies to address current or potential links to the forced labor systems of cotton production in Turkmenistan in the companies’ operations and supply chains.

• Cease investments in companies that refuse to discontinue using cotton from Turkmenistan while it is produced with forced labor.

• Support the advocacy efforts of the Cotton Campaign and its partners, and publicly endorse calls to policy makers and international organizations to take stronger action against forced labor in cotton production in Turkmenistan.