Schoolteachers in Turkmenistan's northeastern city of Lebap received a big surprise when they returned from their summer holidays this year.
Instead of getting ready for the new school classes, they were ordered to prepare to join the government's cotton-harvesting campaign that kicks off on August 20.
"The managers of state agencies announced that all public-sector workers have to pick cotton in addition to paying money each week so that [the authorities can also] hire day workers to take part in the harvest," a teacher in Lebap told RFE/RL on condition of anonymity.
He likened the situation to "slavery."
Every year during harvest season, Turkmenistan mobilizes tens of thousands of state workers, students, and even soldiers to pick cotton, the country's largest source of revenue after natural gas and oil.
The employees are used as forced labor under the threat of dismissal from their normal jobs, while students are threatened with disciplinary action or expulsion from school, according to workers and rights groups.
Those who can afford it often bribe officials to get around the difficult manual work or pay someone else to pick cotton instead of them.
According to RFE/RL sources, the amount of such bribes for an official for last year's harvest season was about $115-$140, while hiring replacement pickers cost about $8.50 to $14 a day. Such costs are well beyond the reach of most people in Turkmenistan, where the average monthly salary is around $200-$400.
A source close to the Lebap provincial government told RFE/RL that authorities have already made a list of teachers and other employees who are expected to take part in cotton-picking rotation.
He also confirmed claims that each state worker must pay the equivalent of $17 a week to cover the authorities' harvest-season expenses, which include hiring additional workers.
"Authorities don't care about employees' financial situation, they just make demands," complained the employee of a housing management company in the provincial capital, Turkmenabat.
"People are afraid and don't raise their voices. They fear they will be fired from their jobs and left with no income [if they disobey officials.] People are intimidated," he added.
In authoritarian Turkmenistan -- a closed and repressive country that stifles free speech and independent media -- it is extremely difficult to obtain any information regarding people who may have recently been punished for refusing to pick cotton.
But the government in Ashgabat is notorious for brutally clamping down on its critics and opponents.
Sweltering Heat, Lack Of Drinking Water
Cotton is Turkmenistan's second-largest export commodity after energy. Last year, the country planned to harvest 1.25 million tons of cotton from some 580,000 hectares of land.
State media often reports about the government purchasing hundreds of tractors and other machines from abroad to harvest cotton. But in reality, most of Turkmenistan's cotton is picked by hand.
Turkmenistan's use of forced labor in the cotton industry goes beyond the harvest season.
In the western Balkan Province, schoolteachers and medics spent their summer vacation in July and early August working the fields, helping farmers remove weeds and other duties.
Teachers were ordered to work at least 10 days, while doctors, nurses, and other employees of local hospitals and clinics were mobilized for 15-20 days, according to RFE/RL sources.
A doctor from Balkan's Bereket district told RFE/RL on August 2 that they worked 12 hours a day in the sweltering heat, with officials not even providing drinking water.
"We arrive at 7 a.m. and work until 7 p.m. every day," the doctor said in describing the unpaid mandatory work on the farms.
"The temperature on these days can go beyond 45 degrees Celsius, but authorities don't even give us drinking water," he said. "We bring 3-liter water bottles from home, but this water only lasts until midday."
RFE/RL correspondents tried to reach Balkan authorities for comment but received no response.
Turkmenistan has been criticized by the U.S. government and international human rights organizations for its use of forced labor.
The U.S. State Department's 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report notes the Turkmen government continues to use forced labor involving adults and children in the annual cotton harvest, forcing them to participate in community service, and mass events.
The Cotton Campaign, a nongovernmental organization that seeks to end forced labor in the cotton industry in Central Asia, has urged international fashion brands and retailers to boycott cotton from Turkmenistan.
A similar international boycott has forced neighboring Uzbekistan to take measures to eliminate its much-criticized child labor in the cotton fields in recent years.
Cotton harvest season in Turkmenistan usually lasts from late August through early December.
