"German Businesses Should Stop All Investments in Turkmenistan’s Textile Industry –German Business Associations Event in Blatant Disregard of Systematic Forced Labor–"

Düsseldorf/Washington, D.C., June 27, 2023—All German business associations, consultancies, multi-stakeholder initiatives, and supply chain actors must cut ties with Turkmenistan’s textile industry to avoid benefitting or profiting from forced labor, said the Cotton Campaign, a global coalition dedicated to ending forced labor and promoting decent work for Central Asian cotton workers. All cotton originating in Turkmenistan is produced by the state with the systematic and widespread forced labor of hundreds of thousands of teachers, healthcare workers, other state employees, and sometimes children. The call comes as seven German business associations and consulting firms, collectively representing thousands of German companies, are today hosting an event in Düsseldorf to encourage German investments in Turkmenistan, in particular in its textile and oil and gas industries.

The state-imposed forced labor system in Turkmenistan cotton and the government’s severe repression of all civic freedoms make it impossible for international companies to conduct any credible due diligence on the ground to prevent or remedy forced labor in cotton. More broadly, international companies are unable to address labor rights abuses in any sector in Turkmenistan, including gas and oil, because there are no independent trade unions and the government has taken harsh action against anyone who speaks out about human rights violations. 

Sourcing cotton products from suppliers in Turkmenistan or from suppliers in third countries that use Turkmen cotton in the manufacturing of these products is in violation of the German human rights due diligence law (“The Supply Chain Act”), which entered in effect in January 2023. Turkey, Pakistan, and Italy are manufacturing hubs using cotton, yarn, and fabric from Turkmenistan and selling goods to major global brands, including brands headquartered or retailing in Germany. Given the state-imposed forced labor situation in Turkmenistan, the appropriate risk mitigation strategy for brands to comply with the Supply Chain Act is to map out their entire textile supply chains, down to the raw material level, and eliminate all cotton originating in Turkmenistan. German mills and finished goods producers must do the same, as Germany itself is a producer of textiles using Turkmen semi-finished cotton products.

On June 20, the Cotton Campaign wrote letters to the leadership of all German co-hosts of the Investment Forum in Düsseldorf—Commit Group, WE! - The Foreign Traders, BVMW, German-Turkmen Forum, IHK, Eastern Committee of German Business (OA), and VDMA— urging them to cancel the event and instead use their engagement with Turkmen stakeholders to pressure the government of Turkmenistan to end its forced labor system. None of the organizations provided a response.

Ruslan Myatiev, director of Turkmen.News, which monitors forced labor in Turkmenistan’s cotton fields, said: “Turkmenistan is one of the most closed and repressive countries in the world. Instead of encouraging investments in Turkmenistan, German business associations and consultancies should in fact protect their members and clients from sourcing Turkmen products and becoming complicit in Turkmenistan’s forced labor system.”

Raluca Dumitrescu, Coordinator of the Cotton Campaign, said: “The German co-hosts of this Investment Forum have failed to conduct even the most basic human rights due diligence in their selection of partners. Encouraging sourcing of textiles from Turkmenistan, as long as Turkmen cotton continues to be produced with state-imposed forced labor, defies national laws governing human rights due diligence and supply chains that bind global brands and retailers, including the Supply Chain Act in Germany.”

Allison Gill, Forced Labor Program Director at Global Labor Justice-International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF), which hosts the Cotton Campaign, said: “The ILO and the Human Rights Committee, among other authoritative bodies, have repeatedly urged the government of Turkmenistan to end its forced labor system. All German supply chain actors, multi-stakeholder initiatives, and government agencies should heed these calls and urge the Turkmen government to end reprisals against independent monitors who document labor conditions in the cotton fields.” [...]