India’s Shahi Exports Shows Monitoring Works. Why Isn’t Turkmenistan Using It?
India‘s Shahi Exports has teamed up with Responsible Sourcing Network and agreed to an assessment of its ethical sourcing practices. It’s a first step toward building a transparent supply chain free of forced labor after the company was accused last year of gender-based violence and harassment.
The goal is to reinforce a move just getting underway industry-wide to strengthen due diligence and sourcing standards.
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Called YESS, Yarn Ethically & Sustainably Sourced, the assessment process is intended to spread throughout the garment and textile industry around India first then internationally and gain as many adherents as possible.
“This joint effort represents a significant milestone in the pursuit of responsible and transparent cotton supply chains,” said Patricia Jurewicz, CEO, Responsible Sourcing Network.
Shahi Exports’ assessment at the knitting and spinning facilities in Shivamogga, India, was the first in the program which is based on the due diligence framework of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Shahi was one of seven global suppliers to pilot the YESS Standards in 2022 and is now taking the lead in implementing it.
Forced labor remains a problem for much of South and Central Asia. The hope is that programs combatting it like YESS spread to other countries, such as Turkmenistan, cited in a recent report from independent rights groups in the country for forced labor in its cotton industry.
The report, released earlier this month, alleges that the Turkmen government forces tens of thousands of public sector workers, including employees of schools and hospitals, to pick cotton or pay for replacement pickers. Non-compliance results in fines, loss of employment or loss of land, with punishment imposed by the government, considered to be run by corrupt officials and with complete control the cotton production system and its exploited farmers.
Exploited farmers are routinely subjected to steep cotton production quotas enforced by regional administrators as proof of their commitment to the government’s cotton plan. A March report by the Cotton Campaign, a global coalition against forced labor, documents the abuses, denied by Turkmen officials, and urges them to engage in good faith with the International Labor Organization, UN human and labor rights monitors like the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery as well as independent watchdog organizations with the requisite expertise to commence monitoring in earnest, go public with findings and eventually set up a broader enabling environment for labor rights.
Observers say change is long overdue. “Every year, the Turkmen government uses coercion and exploitation of farmers and public sector employees to produce and harvest cotton,” said Ruslan Myatiev, director of Turkmen.News, which monitors field laborers. “It is high time for the government to acknowledge the problem and allow labor rights defenders to monitor and report on working conditions without the threat of reprisal.”
Much of the cotton in Turkmenistan is still hand-picked, which leaves the system open for abuse. But in addition to long hours of manual labor, workers are often forced to sleep outdoors in freezing temperatures to avoid the cost of daily commutes, pay for their own food and water, or face long rides in unsafe vehicles on treacherous roads. The government also neglected to address environmental concerns leading to water shortages and, as a result, lower crop yields. But it was the farmers who paid in the end for the poorly maintained irrigation systems that kept them from meeting government mandated quotas. Anyone who raises objections to the abuses is openly harassed and attacked.
Right now, the abuses have led to Turkmen cotton products being banned by 140 global brands and retailers for as long as the situation continues. The country also was accused of greenwashing after saying it worked with Swedish retailer Ikea and denim seller Gap on cotton harvest audits.
In many instances third countries like Turkey, Italy and Pakistan use cotton, yarn and fabric from Turkmenistan in their goods, which gets the forced-labor Turkmen cotton into their supply chains. It is outright forbidden in the U.S. and the number of countries with such bans is growing.
“Creating a level playing field will signal to the government of Turkmenistan that the use of forced labor is unacceptable,” said Raluca Dumitrescu, coordinator of the Cotton Campaign.
Workers at Shahi Exports complained last year of sexual harassment, verbal abuse, filthy conditions and sometimes physical violence. While it now has YESS monitors, it responded then by threatening to leave the village where the factory was located, leaving hundreds without jobs.
