The International Labour Organization (ILO) has again criticized Turkmenistan over the continued use of forced labor in its cotton sector, calling on the country to dismantle its state-imposed cotton quota system and submit a detailed progress report by September 1.
The call followed discussions at the annual International Labour Conference in Geneva, where the ILO’s Committee on the Application of Standards reviewed Turkmenistan’s compliance with Convention No. 105 on the Abolition of Forced Labour.
This was the fifth time Turkmenistan’s implementation of the convention had been examined by the committee. The country ratified the convention in 1997, but concerns persist over the mobilization of public-sector employees for the annual cotton harvest.
Turkmenistan’s delegation was led by Khalbibi Tachjanova, deputy minister of Labour and Social Protection of Population, who reaffirmed the country’s commitment to the convention and outlined reforms introduced in recent years.
Tachjanova cited amendments to the Labor Code imposing a full ban on child and forced labor, as well as a draft presidential decree intended to explicitly prohibit any form of coercion during the cotton harvest.
According to Tachjanova, labor inspectors carried out 3,867 inspections in 2025, identifying violations in 2,352 cases and imposing 3,040 administrative sanctions. She also said wages in the sector had doubled between 2023 and 2024 as part of the reforms.
Yusup Gylychdurdiyev, a senior official from the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan, spoke for employers. He said the country’s 340 dehkan farmer associations were gradually moving into private management structures and argued that private businesses lacked the administrative tools to coerce workers.
Mekan Ovezov of the National Trade Union Center spoke for workers and cited cooperation between trade unions, government agencies, employers, and the ILO, as well as training and labor rights programs.
However, labor and employer representatives on the ILO committee gave a far more critical assessment.
Canadian labor lawyer Jackie VanDerMeulen, speaking for employer members, noted that the ILO had already issued observations on Turkmenistan’s cotton sector nine times. She said that despite some positive changes, the 2025 monitoring results showed serious violations remain.
Stephen Russell, representing the United Kingdom’s Trades Union Congress, said labor rights abuses persist and pointed to the lack of independent public monitoring mechanisms and the absence of independent trade unions in the country.
The findings show that Turkmenistan remains under international scrutiny over one of its most important export industries. Observers continue to call for changes in a sector long associated with state-driven labor mobilization.
