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Introduction





Asia

Europe and Central Asia

Middle East and North Africa

Special Issues and Campaigns

United States

Arms

Children’s Rights

Women’s Human Rights

Appendix




Defending Human Rights

The status of independent human rights monitoring in Turkmenistan is best reflected by a phrase from the oath of loyalty to the nation emblazoned on the masthead of all the country’s newspapers and magazines: “If I criticize you may my tongue fall out!” Thesole local organization allowed to address human rights issues, the official Turkmen National Institute of Democracy and Human Rights under the president of Turkmenistan, acts mainly as a buffer between the Turkmen government and international bodies. International observers fare no better than would-be local monitors: the government denied Human Rights Watch representatives visas on one occasion and refused to grant them official meetings during a subsequent trip to the region in May 1998.


Countries


Albania

Armenia

Azerbaijan

Republic of Belarus

Bosnia and Hercegovina

Bulgaria

Croatia

Czech Republic

Georgia

Greece

Hungary

Kazakstan

Kyrgyztan

Macedonia

Romania

The Russian Federation

Slovakia

Tajikistan

Turkey

Turkmenistan

United Kingdom

Uzbekistan

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Asylum Policy in Western Europe


Campaigns



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Human RIghts Watch