Today we would like to share some facts, figures and details of this year’s cotton campaign. The
information has been gathered by our readers - the actual participants of the current campaign, located in different regions of the country.

As is well known, every year, all employees of the social services sector are forced to harvest cotton under the threat of being fired. 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.

The regional government of Dashoguz ordered the principles of all 25 public schools to mobilize 800 individuals for cotton harvesting. The same number of people was gathered by the principles of kindergartens. The teachers and the doctors do not protest openly because their superiors tell them that their refusal to pick cotton will result in immediate firing and replacement with other workers. This, of course, directly violates Article 2 of ILO Convention on forced or compulsory labor, which defines forced labor as “all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily.” Forced labor on the cotton fields also violates the labor law of Turkmenistan.