To the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of OSCE participating states invoking the Moscow Mechanism with regard to Turkmenistan (Austria, Canada, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States)

Dear Ministers,

Human Rights Watch and the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights commend the principled position your governments have taken to invoke the OSCE’s Moscow Mechanism with respect to Turkmenistan. We are turning to you in that capacity, to ask that you as a group take the initiative to sponsor a resolution on Turkmenistan at the forthcoming session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR).

There is no doubt that the gravity of the situation in Turkmenistan warrants a resolution by the UNCHR. As you know, the November 25 attack on President Niazov triggered a wave of human rights abuses by a government that for years has been one of the most repressive in the world. Many of the fifty-seven people convicted in relation to the attack had no access to due process and were denied a fair and public trial; some were subjected to torture and ill-treatment, doubtless to coerce confessions or testimony. Human Rights Watch’s statement to the UNCHR, which is enclosed, provides some detail on these developments.

The new wave of repression is extraordinary but reflects the harsh practices of the Turkmen government that human rights groups have documented throughout recent years. In the past decade the government of Turkmenistan eliminated all dissent, banned religions other than Sunni Islam and Russian Orthodoxy, persecuted ethnic minorities, and harassed and imprisoned human rights defenders. The government has also banned the circus, opera, ballet, and philharmonic orchestra.

A U.N. resolution reflecting this lengthy record of repression would be a timely complement to the Moscow Mechanism, the scope of which is limited to the events following the November 25 attack. It would further complement the work of the OSCE more broadly by activating a range of U.N. human rights mechanisms, including the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Special Rapporteur on torture, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and the like. A resolution would serve the important purpose of underscoring the Turkmen government’s failure to cooperate with both the U.N. human rights system and with the OSCE’s Moscow Mechanism.

Finally, a resolution would signal to the Turkmen government that its defiance of the OSCE will not bring about an end to international scrutiny of its appalling human rights record. This is particularly important in view of the government’s refusal to issue the Moscow Mechanism rapporteur a visa to visit Turkmenistan.

Below is a list of key elements that we believe should form part of a UNCHR resolution on Turkmenistan. It should:

• Express grave concern about serious abuses of human rights in Turkmenistan, and press the Turkmen government to undertake systemic reforms to fully comply with its international human rights obligations.
  
  
• Call on the government to ensure fair and open trials for all those charged in relation to the November 25 assassination attempt, and to guarantee due process to all those detained; to retry those already convicted in full compliance with international standards and release them prior to trial, and to allow international monitoring of all trials in order to promote transparency.
  
  
• Call on the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the U.N. thematic mechanisms to request invitations to visit Turkmenistan. The High Commissioner should be asked to report on his trip to the 60th session of the Commission. Should the Turkmen government fail to issue an invitation, the High Commissioner should be asked to report to the Commission using information gathered by a UNDP mission and other sources.

The Turkmen government’s obstruction of the OSCE should not deter UNCHR action but rather reinforce that institution’s resolve to confront tyranny. Even if the Turkmen government seeks to block U.N. human rights mechanisms, as it has the OSCE, these mechanisms could document abuses in Turkmenistan by gathering information outside the country.

We urge you to act now to ensure that a resolution will be introduced. We thank you for your attention to our concerns.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Andersen
Executive Director
Europe and Central Asia division
Human Rights Watch

Aaron Rhodes
Executive Director
International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights

cc: Ambassadors to the OSCE of the above states