Corporate report

Turkmenistan - in-year update December 2015

Published 21 April 2016

The overall human rights situation in Turkmenistan continued to be of significant concern during the period July - December 2015. Restrictions on the internet and the media as well as arrests of journalists continued. Despite the fact that Turkmenistan is a signatory to most international human rights instruments, implementation of these instruments remained weak. The long-awaited adoption of the Human Rights Action Plan did not take place as expected in the autumn, but is expected to happen early in 2016.

There has been little progress on the appointment of an independent ombudsman which was expected to take place at the end of 2015. The relevant legislation to set up the office is now expected in 2016. However, some progress was seen in October, with Turkmenistan attending the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Human Dimension Meeting (HDIM) in Warsaw for the first time in 12 years. The 15th meeting of the EU-Turkmenistan Joint Committee under the Trade & Cooperation Agreement took place as planned on 29 September, with high-level attendance from the Turkmen side, and discussions of human rights progress, amongst other issues.

As part of its mandate to promote freedom of the media, the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat arranged a conference in July for local journalists and editors to discuss journalistic ethical standards, rights and duties. However, in July 2015, a local freelance reporter for Radio Free Europe, Saparmamed Nepeskuliyev, was arrested and, despite calls by the OSCE’s Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatovic, for him to be released, he was reportedly held incommunicado for two months before being sentenced to three years in prison. Satellite dishes continued to be removed from private homes. Social media websites such as Twitter, Facebook and Youtube remained blocked, and sporadic blocking of foreign newspaper and government websites continued.

The draft of the new Constitution remains a work in progress, although the President has announced that it will include articles aimed at protecting individual rights and liberties, and recognising political diversity and a multi-party system in Turkmenistan. The final version is expected to be put to Parliament in the summer of 2016. In the meantime, OSCE undertook work to aid legal and constitutional reform between September and November 2015 through a range of practical courses on international human rights standards and their application in criminal proceedings, as well as a workshop on the application of and institutionalising the independence of the judiciary, the latter supported with funding from the British Embassy. Turkmen Parliamentarians were taken to Denmark to exchange information on legislative practices and study legislative drafting.

As is the usual practice, in July 2015 during Ramadan, over 1,000 prisoners were granted amnesty, including 10 foreigners. Another 1,000 were granted amnesty in October on the occasion of Independence Day. Prisoners convicted of drug crimes are excluded from such amnesties. The British Embassy, along with others, continued to lobby on a number of individual human right cases, including at Ministerial level. September saw progress in one long-standing case when Geldy Kyarizov, a former Turkmen Minister, who had been barred from travelling overseas following several years of imprisonment, was finally given permission to leave the country for medical treatment.

After more than a year of waiting, permission was given in September 2015 for selected EU Ambassadors and the US Ambassador to visit the Women’s Prison in Dashoguz, in the north of Turkmenistan. This was the first time EU and US diplomats had been given an opportunity to see an example of prison conditions and facilities for themselves.

In December 2015, the UN Human Rights Committee found that a number of Jehovah’s Witnesses’ rights under several articles of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) had been violated by the government of Turkmenistan. This was in connection to their conscientious objection to military service and the lack of a civilian alternative. Jehovah’s Witnesses continue to report restrictions on their freedom to practise their religion in Turkmenistan.

In July 2015, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) organised a roundtable to discuss the issue of the state and public institutions in relation to women and adolescent girls, and how legislation could help empower women. Members of Parliament and other ministries and organisations participated. The UNFPA Executive Director, Dr Babatunde Ostimehim, visited Turkmenistan in August and welcomed the steps Turkmenistan had taken on gender policies. In the same month a new law was passed consolidating and strengthening gender equality laws.

With funding support from the British Embassy, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) assisted the Turkmen Institute of Democracy and Human Rights to prepare its third periodic report on the implementation of the International Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. A workshop to discuss progress on the implementation of the recommendations from the second periodic report was also held.

There were a number of high-level visits in this period, including FCO Minister for Central Asia, Tobias Ellwood, who took the opportunity to raise human rights issues with Turkmen counterparts at a high level.