A new plan of my measurements in the field of human rights has been presented in Turkmenistan.

On May 19, a conference was held in Ashgabat, at which the «National action plan for Human Rights in Turkmenistan for 2021-2025» was presented.

The conference was attended by representatives of the Public Consultation and the National Council meeting, political parties, public organizations, the media, rectors and university students, the Ombudsman of Turkmenistan Yazdursun Kurbannazarova, as well as heads of international organizations accredited in Turkmenistan.

The meeting was opened by Gulshat Mamedova, Chairman of the National Council meeting. She told about the significance of the National Plan and about cooperation with international organizations.

According to TDH, representatives of international organizations highly appreciated the level of cooperation with the Turkmen side. But for some reason, no one reminded at the conference that Ashgabat ignores the decisions of the UN Committee on Human Rights on violations of the rights of Turkmen citizens. These include the decisions on Ogulsapar Muradova, Sapardurdy Khajiev and Annakurban Amanklychev, on Halykov and others. Yes, on paper, Turkmenistan welcomes the need to respect human rights. But in practice, Turkmenistan has never acknowledged proven cases of persecution of citizens.

What does Ashgabat intend to do for the next five years?

First of all, to create in Ashgabat the mandate of a representative of the Regional Office of the Management of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Good initiative. But here you have to be very careful in your expectations. After all, there are already international representatives in the country. And they have been urging Turkmen officials for decades not to violate human rights. And all these decades, Turkmenistan has been in the top three countries with the most brutal persecution of its citizens. Maybe enough to circle in one place for the sake of the regime? Isn't it time to take a different path? For example, to agree to Ashgabat's initiatives only when the regime first starts to respect the decisions of at least the UN?

Secondly, Ashgabat intends to develop the institution of the ombudsman. How are they going to do it? Where is this plan, what does it consist of? Fraud again? Why, every time, the participants and guests of such conferences, like little children, believe the empty promises of cunning Turkmen officials?

The third direction is the expansion of cooperation with authoritative organizations. Question - which ones? Those with whom Turkmenistan has cooperated so far and annually occupied shameful places in terms of observance of human rights? Or, for example, with the Red Cross, which was forced to leave the country due to the fact that the authorities do not consider it necessary to reform the judicial, law enforcement and penitentiary systems? Why shouldn't Turkmenistan sign agreements with the ECHR court in Strasbourg?

The answer can be found in the fact that the «National Action Plan for Human Rights in Turkmenistan for 2021-2025», like the previous plan, is again not available to the public. That is, the Plan is not publicly available.

Turkmen Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights