Disputes - international:
cotton monoculture in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan creates water-sharing difficulties for Amu Darya river states; field demarcation of the boundaries with Kazakhstan commenced in 2005, but Caspian seabed delimitation remains stalled with Azerbaijan, Iran, and Kazakhstan due to Turkmenistan's indecision over how to allocate the sea's waters and seabed; bilateral talks continue with Azerbaijan on dividing the seabed and contested oilfields in the middle of the Caspian

Refugees and internally displaced persons:
stateless persons: 7,511 (2014)

Trafficking in persons:
current situation: Turkmenistan is a source country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking; Turkmen in search of work in other countries are forced to work in textile sweatshops, construction, and domestic service, with women and rural inhabitants being the most vulnerable; some Turkmen women and girls are sex trafficked abroad; Turkey is the primary trafficking destination, followed by Russia, the UAE, and, to a lesser extent, Iran, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Cyprus, the UK, Sweden, and the US; Turkmen also experience forced labor domestically in the informal construction industry; participation in the cotton harvest is still mandatory for some public sector employees
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List – Turkmenistan does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so; the government has a written plan that, if implemented, would constitute a significant effort toward meeting the minimum standards for eliminating human trafficking; the denial of an internal trafficking problem by some government officials, corruption, and a lack of institutional capacity continued to impede the government’s response to trafficking in 2013; the government reported detailed anti-trafficking law enforcement data for the first time and is making an effort to support anti-trafficking training; the government did not offer services to trafficking victims in 2013 and did not fund NGOs providing care; authorities punished some victims for crimes committed as a result of being trafficked (2014)

Illicit drugs:
transit country for Afghan narcotics bound for Russian and Western European markets; transit point for heroin precursor chemicals bound for Afghanistan