LONDON - The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) is urging fashion brands to stop sourcing cotton from Turkmenistan after a new report revealed the systematic use of forced labour in last year's harvest.
Two NGOs, Turkmen.news and the Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights, are behind the study which is based on monitoring by their staff of the 2020 cotton harvest in four of the country's five regions - Ahal, Dashoguz, Lebap, and Mary.
It claims that public sector employees, conscripts and students in higher education, colleges and vocational schools were all forced to pick cotton in all four regions.
