Cotton Campaign

The Italian machinery manufacturers association have purposefully deleted comments from the Cotton Campaign on the below. Please do share. The #bizhumanrights community should be looking at this. https://lnkd.in/eaBcpT8Y

All cotton produced in Turkmenistan is harvested through a systemic state-led forced labour system which has been going on for decades. This system violates fundamental ILO Conventions. Yet last week, a delegation of Italian textile machinery companies visited Turkmenistan to take forward their investment into the cotton textile industry in the country, thereby both profitting from and further enabling the Turkmen government's gross exploitation of its own citizens. This - where we have EU-based machinery companies selling their services to process forced-labour produced cotton - also exposes questions about the design of the #CSDDD and EU Forced Labour Regulation. Read more in our statement from the Cotton Campaign https://lnkd.in/etCR3Pm4

A call to Italian companies: End business with Turkmenistan's textile industry 🚫👚 Today, and over the next few days, a commercial delegation co-organised by the Italian government is meeting with Turkmenistan's textile industry, despite the widespread use of state-imposed forced labour in Turkmen cotton production. The EU has consistently called for the end of forced labour in Turkmenistan, but Italian companies continue to sell machinery that is likely to be used to process local cotton harvested with forced labour. These companies benefit from forced labour in cotton production and facilitate Turkmen cotton's entry into global supply chains as finished or semi-finished goods. The commercial delegation, which is taking place in parallel with the EU-Turkmenistan human rights dialogue, undermines EU and international efforts to end state-imposed forced labour in Turkmen cotton.  The EU should ensure that European businesses cut ties with the Turkmen cotton industry. Instead of organising commercial delegations as the Italian government is doing in this case. Everyone should be able to choose their work and live in freedom, but thousands of people in Turkmenistan are forced to work in the cotton harvest every year. It's time for change. 📣 The EU is committed to eradicating forced labour from supply chains, and therefore, no European company should be profiting from this forced labour.  European institutions and EU Member States must interrogate and, where necessary, correct all trade initiatives and economic cooperation with Turkmenistan to ensure they do not enable or perpetuate forced labour. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eke4UmU4

📢 In blatant disregard of state-imposed #ForcedLabor in Turkmen #cotton, a commercial delegation co-organized by the #Italian government is meeting with textile industry actors in #Turkmenistan to deepen business relationships. Our press release here: https://lnkd.in/eke4UmU4 This follows a reported €13 million in sales of Italian textile machinery to Turkmen entities in 2023. We urge them to terminate all business with Turkmenistan's textile industry and stop profiting from Turkmen forced labor. ITA - Italian Trade Agency ACIMIT Their commercial delegation to Turkmenistan also undermines the concurrent EU-Turkmenistan Human Rights Dialogue and international efforts to eradicate forced labor from supply chains. Ruslan Myatiev, director of turkmen.news, an independent media and human rights organization, which also monitors forced labor in Turkmenistan’s cotton fields, said: “Turkmenistan remains one of the most repressive countries in the world. All governments and companies should condition business with Turkmenistan’s textile industry on the elimination of state-imposed forced labor in the harvest and the protection of labor rights and empowerment of workers and farmers.” Allison Gill, legal director at Global Labor Justice, which hosts the Cotton Campaign, said: “The Italian co-hosts of this commercial delegation and the companies that are already doing business with Turkmen textile entities have failed to conduct even the most basic human rights due diligence in their selection of partners and are profiting from the forced labor of Turkmen workers. To comply with responsible business conduct guidelines and regulations, and stop contributing to the exploitation of workers in Turkmenistan, all companies should terminate their direct and indirect business relationships with Turkmenistan’s textile industry.” Adria Cots Fernandez, business and human rights partnerships coordinator at Anti-Slavery International, a member of the Cotton Campaign, said: “Everyone should be able to choose their work and live in freedom, but tens of thousands of people in Turkmenistan are forced to work in the cotton harvest every year. The EU is committed to eradicate forced labor from supply chains and therefore no European company should be profiting from this forced labor. European institutions and EU Member States must interrogate, and where necessary correct, all trade initiatives and economic cooperation with Turkmenistan to make sure they do not enable or perpetuate forced labor in Turkmenistan.”

Cotton Campaign Steering Committee members Global Labor Justice, Solidarity Center, and Anti-Slavery International joined forces with other human and labor rights orgs, migrant rights orgs, and independent trade unions, and launched a Coalition to demand labor justice for the millions of migrant workers in the Gulf region! Read more here https://lnkd.in/eae2v82F

#Turkmenistan #cotton: "The root causes of forced labor—a dearth of freedom of association, freedom of expression and collective bargaining rights—remain endemic and pervasive, making credible due diligence all but impossible. It isn’t for nothing, therefore, that the United States has maintained a Withhold Release Order on both Turkmen cotton and products produced in whole or in part with the same since 2018." 👇

Cotton in Turkmenistan remains riddled with forced labor, even as independent monitoring in Uzbekistan comes under attack, experts say.

Turkmenistan Cotton: Forced Labor Remains Widespread and Systematic Despite Some Shifts in 2023 Harvest. Stronger International Pressure Needed.

On April 18, Umida Niyazova, founder and director of Uzbek Forum for Human Rights, was harassed in #Uzbekistan, Fergana Region, after meeting with farmers and representatives of cotton companies. We are calling for a prompt investigation of this attack. This happened amidst escalating intimidation and pressure on independent labor monitors, which stands to negatively impact the government and industry’s efforts to attract sourcing by global brands following the end of systemic state-imposed forced labor in the harvest. Read more here:

May 1: If you are in Washington, DC, join Global Labor Justice - International Labor Rights Forum and allies to demand a better future for all!