Turkmenistan Issues - 2024

Disputes - international

Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan: in January 2021, the two countries reached a preliminary agreement on the joint exploration of an undersea hydrocarbon field containing oil and natural gas in the Caspian Sea

Turkmenistan-Iran: none identified

Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan: Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan signed a treaty on the delimitation and demarcation process in 2001; field demarcation of the boundaries with Kazakhstan commenced in 2005; Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan agreed to their border in the Caspian Sea in 2014

Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan: in 2017, the three countries signed an agreement of the junction of their borders

Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan: cotton monoculture in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan creates water-sharing difficulties for Amu Darya river states; in 2021, the two countries reached an agreement to create a joint intergovernmental commission to oversee water management

Refugees and internally displaced persons

stateless persons: 4,463 (2022)

Trafficking in persons

tier rating: Tier 3 — Turkmenistan does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so, therefore, Turkmenistan remained on Tier 3; the government took some steps to address trafficking, including granting access to an international organization to monitor the cotton harvest, providing support for anti-trafficking campaigns, and training officials in collaboration with international organizations; however, a government policy or pattern of forced labor, including mobilization of adults for forced labor in the annual cotton harvest, public works, and other sectors, continued; the government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions, nor hold any officials accountable for complicity in forced labor crimes; authorities did not identify victims or fund victim assistance programs (2023)

trafficking profile: human traffickers exploit Turkmen citizens in Turkmenistan and abroad; state policies continue to perpetuate government-compelled forced labor in the cotton sector, as well as in public works and community cleaning and beautification projects; police reportedly force the homeless into agricultural work or domestic servitude in the homes of law enforcement families; some children are reportedly forced to work in cotton and potato fields during summer educational camps; residents of rural areas are at highest risk for trafficking both in country and abroad; LGBTQI+ communities are vulnerable to police abuse, extortion, coercion, and possibly sex trafficking or forced labor; Turkmen men and women are subjected to forced labor abroad in textile, agricultural, construction, and domestic service sectors; some migrant men are forced into criminal drug trafficking, and some migrant women are exploited by sex traffickers; most Turkmen migrant victims are in India, Russia, and Turkey, as well as other countries in the Middle East, South and Central Asia, and Europe (2023)

Illicit drugs

transit country for Afghan opiates to Turkish, Russian, and European markets, either directly from Afghanistan or through Iran; not a major producer or source country for illegal drugs or precursor chemicals