How a Ban on Forced Labour Products could Ensure that Goods Made with Forced Labour Cotton from Turkmenistan are no longer Sold Across the EU

European Commission, Call for Evidence

Effectively Banning Products Produced, Extracted or Harvested with Forced Labour

Submission by the Cotton Campaign

June 20, 2022

The Cotton Campaign urges the EU to introduce an effective forced labour instrument, banning the imports of forced labour goods into the EU market. Such a mechanism is essential to address state-imposed forced labour in the production of textiles and other cotton products sold across the EU, including products containing Turkmen cotton.

All cotton originating in Turkmenistan is produced with state-imposed forced labour. Every year during the harvest, the government forces tens of thousands of public sector workers to pick cotton in hazardous and unsanitary conditions. Within an extremely oppressive regime, lacking protections for freedom of association and expression, as well as independent institutions for accountability, the Turkmen government maintains total control over cotton production and forces farmers to meet official production quotas under threat of penalty including loss of their land.

Products made with Turkmen cotton continue to enter the European market either through direct trade routes or through suppliers in other countries, in particular Turkey, that produce textiles using Turkmen cotton, yarn and fabric.