In a letter to Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, over 300 members of the European Parliament have called for a ban on the import of merchandise “made by enslaved Turkmen and the Uyghurs” to Europe.
The letter points out that during her address to the European Parliament on 15 September, 2021 Ursula von der Leyen announced a ban on products that have been made by forced labour. In the opinion of members of the Parliament, the time has come for the European Commission to deliver on this promise.
“Shirts, shoes or cars made by enslaved Uyghurs, Turkmen, or forced workers from anywhere should not be sold in our shops anymore”, – the Parliament members are quoted as saying.
The EU Parliament members emphasize that it is feasible to achieve this: “This is feasible. The United States has done it and the European Union should do it. All we need is the political will of the European Commission. Any attempt to postpone or dilute it would be unacceptable”.
“This is a very timely address, – Ruslan Myatiyev, the editor of Turkmen.News, says. — The economic crisis in Turkmenistan is dire and the situation in cotton fields is also exacerbating. In particular, the number of children mobilized for the cotton harvesting campaign is again on the rise”.
“Hopefully, the Turkmen authorities will eventually change their approach towards cotton production by placing agriculture at large in a free market and will stop utilizing government control, which involves mobilizing residents, including children, for inappropriate tasks”, — Chairperson of Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights Farid Tukhbatullin commented on the situation.
Every year Turkmenistan forces public sector employees to work in the cotton fields.Because of the social and economic crisis and the high unemployment rate employees of state-run organizations do not challenge the demands of the state authorities because they could face termination. Being economic hostages of the state employer, residents go to the fields to pick cotton manually.
In some cases the authorities provide public sector employees with an opportunity to “buy their way out of involuntary duties” — they are not personally transported to the fields but instead are forced to pay for hired workers to replace them in the cotton fields.
In 2018 the US authorities imposed a ban on the import of Turkmen cotton and cotton products.This decision was adopted based on the complaint submitted by Turkmen.News and the International Labour Rights Forum (ILRF).
Regrettably, it must be acknowledged that the Turkmen authorities do manage to circumvent the ban.
It should be highlighted that in addition to the US government initiative, to date over 100 privately-owned companies, including Adidas, Nike, Burberry and the H&M group, have also joined the commitment to not purchase Turkmen cotton.
The statement by members of the European Parliament (in English) and the list of those who have signed it is available here.The post Members of the European Parliament call for a ban on the import of Turkmen forced labour products first appeared on Chronicles of Turkmenistan.