• Human Rights in Turkmenistan

    Five years after the death of dictator Saparmurad Niyazov,  President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov’s authoritarian rule remains entrenched, highlighting Turkmenistan’s status as one of the world’s most repressive countries.

    The country remains closed to independent scrutiny, media and religious freedoms are subject to draconian restrictions, human rights defenders face constant threat of government reprisal, and torture is widespread. Turkmenistan has the one of largest natural gas reserves in the world, and the Turkmenistan government continued to expand relations with foreign governments and international organizations, but with no meaningful outcomes for human rights promotion and protection.

  • HRW Submission on Turkmenistan to the UN Human Rights Committee
    The present submission, prepared in advance of the United Nations Human Rights Committee’s March 2012 review of Turkmenistan, highlights two specific aspects Human Rights Watch considers central to the Committee’s assessment of the Turkmen government’s compliance with its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: the extraordinary levels of repression that characterize the Turkmen government’s human rights record, and the fact that the country is utterly closed to any independent human rights scrutiny.
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Turkmenistan

  • Turkmenistan: Damning UN Report Shows Need for Urgent Action
    Mar 30, 2012
    The Turkmen government should urgently heed the calls by the UN Human Rights Committee to improve its abysmal rights record.
  • HRW Submission on Turkmenistan to the UN Human Rights Committee
    Mar 14, 2012
    The present submission, prepared in advance of the United Nations Human Rights Committee’s March 2012 review of Turkmenistan, highlights two specific aspects Human Rights Watch considers central to the Committee’s assessment of the Turkmen government’s compliance with its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: the extraordinary levels of repression that characterize the Turkmen government’s human rights record, and the fact that the country is utterly closed to any independent human rights scrutiny.
  • The Soviet Fall and the Arab Spring
    Jan 10, 2012
    Twenty years ago, in July 1991, I was poised to start a job researching human rights violations in the Soviet Union. A month later, the failed coup to unseat Communist Party leader Mikhail Gorbachev precipitated rapid political changes that would lead to the dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 25. Watching these events, my family told me I would no longer have a job. Like many others, they assumed that the end of communism would usher in a new era of democracy, the rule of law, and human rights in the Soviet Union’s successor states. I started my new job as planned and it only took five minutes to see that those assumptions were wrong.
  • Letter to the Editor Regarding German Foreign Minister Westerwelle's Visit to Turkmenistan
    Dec 1, 2011
    The Central Asian state has huge energy reserves that Germany would like to tap, and a strategic location neighbouring Afghanistan. It also has one of the worst human rights records in the world, with credible reports from the United Nations and elsewhere of widespread torture, forced disappearances and repression of all critical voices.
  • Turkmenistan: Open Letter to President Berdymukhadmedov regarding ongoing expropriation and demolition of homes in Ashgabat and the surrounding Akhal region
    Oct 25, 2011
    Based on information we have received from evictees and others familiar with the expropriations and demolitions, Human Rights Watch believes that the expropriation and demolition of private properties in these areas are unlawful and violate Turkmenistan’s domestic law and international human rights obligations.
  • Turkmenistan: UN Body Finds Torture “Widespread”
    Jun 6, 2011
    The Turkmen government should promptly heed the calls by the UN Committee Against Torture to address the country’s abysmal record on torture and other serious abuses.
  • Turkmenistan: Human Rights Watch Submission to the United Nations Committee against Torture
    Apr 30, 2011
    We believe the upcoming review of Turkmenistan's initial report provides a crucial opportunity to highlight the Turkmen government's appalling record on torture and ill-treatment and to formulate recommendations for specific steps to address concerns identified.
  • Turkmenistan: Arrests on Eve of EU Parliament Visit
    Apr 26, 2011
    Turkmen authorities have detained at least four people since early March, 2011, on what appear to be politically motivated grounds.
  • Turkmenistan: Briefing Note for the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee and Central Asia Delegation on Turkmenistan
    Apr 26, 2011
    Turkmenistan remains one of the most repressive countries in the world. Its record in the five areas of concern identified by the European Parliament - releasing political prisoners; lifting informal travel bans on activists and their relatives; allowing independent human rights monitors into the country; instituting further civil liberties, including for non-governmental organizations; and implementing reforms at all levels and in all areas of administration - remains completely unsatisfactory.
  • A New Approach to Old Autocrats
    Mar 10, 2011
    The European Union is crafting a “fresh approach” to north Africa in the wake of public uprisings against authoritarianism. That is good news, but it should not stop there. It is time for the EU to make a fresh start with the authoritarian belt of former Soviet countries.
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