Turkmenistan

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.

A human-rights cold room - Catherine Ashton to visit Central Asia

Nov 24, 2012
Central Asia: Ashton Should Urge Release of Activists

Nov 22, 2012
Turkmenistan: Test of European Parliament’s Resolve

Oct 31, 2012
Switzerland: Urge Turkmen Leader to End Persecution

Oct 5, 2012

Featured Content

World Report 2012: Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan: Open Letter to President Berdymukhamedov regarding Ongoing Expropriations and Demolitions

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Reports

Human Rights Reform in Turkmenistan

Rhetoric or Reality?
The EU Central Asia Strategy

An essential opportunity for human rights
Threats to Press Freedom

A Report Prepared for the Free Media Seminar Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe

Turkmenistan

A human-rights cold room - Catherine Ashton to visit Central Asia

Nov 24, 2012

At the height of summer, when foreign ministers adopted the European Union's new human-rights strategy, Catherine Ashton, the high representative for foreign affairs, was eloquent in promising to make these issues a core ingredient in the EU's foreign relations.
Central Asia: Ashton Should Urge Release of Activists

Nov 22, 2012

European Union High Representative Catherine Ashton should meet with human rights defenders and publicly call for the release of wrongfully imprisoned activists during her upcoming visit to Central Asia.
Central Asia: letter to the High Representative of the European Union Catherine Ashton

Nov 15, 2012
Central Asia: Overview of Key Human Rights Concerns and Recommendations

Nov 15, 2012
Turkmenistan: Test of European Parliament’s Resolve

Oct 31, 2012

When it votes on a partnership and co-operation agreement with Turkmenistan, the European Parliament should do what member states have not done – consider human rights.
Switzerland: Urge Turkmen Leader to End Persecution

Oct 5, 2012

President Eveline Widmer Schlumpf of Switzerland should use the upcoming visit by her Turkmen counterpart to speak out about Turkmenistan's abysmal human rights record and to press for concrete improvements.
Turkmenistan Universal Periodic Review Submission

Oct 5, 2012
An EU Central Asia Strategy with Teeth (and Heart)

Jun 26, 2012

I cannot help but wonder what Azimjon Askarov would say in reaction to this week's EU foreign ministers' statement "welcom[ing] the progress" in implementing the European Union's strategy for Central Asia.
Central Asia: Five Years of EU Engagement

Jun 20, 2012

The European Union’s (EU) effectiveness to promote rights improvements in Central Asia is hampered by its reticence to articulate clear expectations for reform and follow through with policy consequences when those expectations are not met.
Central Asia: Overview of Key Human Rights Concerns and Recommendations

Jun 20, 2012

In the first two years following the introduction of the EU’s Central Asia strategy in 2007 there were a few halting improvements in Kazakhstan’s human rights record, most evidently in the lead up to Kazakhstan’s chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which it held in 2010. Responding to international concerns voiced at the time, the government in 2009 adopted reforms in media and election law.

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