Human Rights Developments

Defending Human Rights

The Role of the International Community

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)

The OSCE pointedly refused to send even a scaled-down mission to observe Turkmenistan's parliamentary elections in December, and denounced the arrest of Nurberdi Nurmamedov. Its representative on freedom of the media criticized the life-presidency. Chairman-in-Office Benita Ferrero-Waldner visited Turkmenistan in May for talks on security, economics, the environment, and human rights, and invited Turkmenistan to participate in a multilateral project on resolving disputes over water use in the region, sponsored by the OSCE's Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the European Community, and the World Bank, an offer President Niazov promptly rejected. For the third year in a row, Turkmenistan refused to sign a substantive Memorandum of Understanding with the ODIHR, one of the conditions under which the OSCE had agreed to establish its Ashgabat office.

European Union

In November 1999 the European Union (E.U.) signed an Interim Agreement, extending full trade benefits to Turkmenistan, rendering almost meaningless the continued suspension on human rights grounds of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement ratification process. The E.U. also praised Turkmenistan's abolition of the death penalty, though its statement at the U.N. Commission on Human Rights session in March noted that human rights observance was "deteriorating."

United States

While the U.S. criticized high profile abuses, such as the arrest of Nurmamedov, statements were frequently delayed or downplayed so as not to interfere with negotiations on Turkmenistan's participation in the planned TransCaspian natural gas pipeline. The Clinton Administration ignored the recommendations of the U.S. government's Commission on International Religious Freedom to designate Turkmenistan as a country of particular concern, a step that could have triggered sanctions.

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

After President Niazov refused to meet a visiting EBRD delegation, the bank announced in April that it would halt all public sector lending to that country, citing Turkmenistan's refusal to implement "principles of multi-party democracy, pluralism and market economics," as required by the bank's charter. The bank had earlier cancelled a planned U.S. $50 million investment to upgrade one of the country's main highways.