The Cotton Campaign strongly recommends that the Department of State continues to issue a Tier 3 ranking to Turkmenistan, as the government continues to deny that it uses forced labor in cotton harvesting and has made no efforts to address or combat the drivers of systematic, government-sponsored forced labor. 

The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that 25 million people are living in forced labor situations. An estimated $150 billion dollars in profits a year are generated off the backs of the men, women, and children who are forced to work. The trafficking of men and boys into the seafood industry is well documented. Recent reports revealed mounting evidence of the system of forced labor in camps in Xinjiang, China.  Meanwhile, in Malawi's tobacco and Indonesia's palm oil sectors, families are trafficked across their country only to be trapped in debt bondage.

On January 30, 2020, Judy Gearhart testified on workers' rights in Uzbekistan at a public hearing held by the Office of United States Trade Representative. Here is ILRF's written testimony and below are Judy's remarks at the hearing. 
  

On 11 September 2012, Ali Enterprises burned to the ground in Baldia Town, Karachi, killing over 250 workers, making it the most deadly factory fire ever. Today, textile and garment factories in Pakistan remain just as unsafe as they were seven years ago. Although multiple initiatives aimed at addressing workplace safety have been initiated in Pakistan since then, they lack the necessary elements that must be in place to ensure safety. All of these initiatives have limited transparency and none of them are enforceable.