Alternative Turkmenistan News (ATN) and International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF), partners in the Cotton Campaign, today filed a formal complaint against the importation of cotton goods from Turkmenistan, all of which are made with forced labor.

«H&M under no circumstances accepts underage workers and/or forced labor being used anywhere in our value chain, including in cotton cultivation. Unfortunately this is sometimes the case in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan and H&M does therefore not accept conventional cotton from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan or Syria in our products,” the statement says.

In a statement to TT, IKEA said, «We want all of our materials produced with respect for people and the environment,» noting that since September of last year, IKEA only uses cotton from “more sustainable farming.”

The 2015 cotton harvest in Turkmenistan began in late August and did not end until well after the Turkmen government announced «a remarkable well-earned victory». The experience of the Turkmen people was the exact opposite. The government actually forced more citizens to pick cotton and intensified enforcement of harvest quotas in response to a late and low-yield harvest.

The Ministry of Agriculture was aware that the cotton crop would fall short of the national production target. A ministry employee reported that tests conducted in August found 83% of the cotton plants would likely yield less than the average rate. The study found that 55% of the plants would yield 7-13 tons of cotton lint per hectare, far short of the rate used to establish the national plan, 20-30 tons per hectare.

The administrators of hospitals and other health-care facilities are also forcing employees to pick cotton. In Lebap region, hospitals have the bare minimum number of staff to be open, and many of the employees left at the hospital are not authorized to receive patients. As a result, patients are waiting in long lines for attention.

Most people who are sent to the cotton fields every year understand the viciousness of the practice; however they are unable to speak their mind for fear of losing their jobs. Most people believe that at least those, who work in hospitals, clinics, schools and kindergartens should remain at their workplaces where they do a lot of good for the people rather than be mobilized for the cotton harvest.

An employee of municipal services returned from the cotton fields with an acute osteomyelitis. He had a prior history of a leg fracture and doctors had strictly forbidden him from putting too much weight on the leg or experiencing extreme cold temperatures. His superiors, however, disregarded doctors’ orders completely and sent him cotton harvesting for 10 days straight with overnights in a remote region of Yylangyz, where the very basic work, rest and hygienic conditions were not met.

Tens of thousands of teachers, doctors, mailmen, bank, factory and other industrial employees throughout the country are forced to stop their work and join the battle for the harvest. For example, on August 30, 500 employees of a regional hospital were taken to the fields; those sent to the fields were the medical staff finished with their shift, nurses and medical assistants.