Skip to main content
Donate Now

Review of Turkmenistan Ombudsperson's Office

Human Rights Watch Submission to the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions Sub-Committee on Accreditation

June 2024

This is a submission to the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA), ahead of its review of the application for accreditation of the Office of the Ombudsperson of Turkmenistan (Ombudsperson) in the fall 2024.

Human Rights Watch hopes this submission will inform the SCA’s consideration and assessment of the performance of the Ombudsperson and their compliance with the United Nations Principles relating to the Status of National Institutions (The Paris Principles), the international minimum standards required by national human rights institutions to be independent, credible and effective.

This submission describes an atmosphere of total government control and censorship in Turkmenistan, the nearly complete denial of civil and political rights in practice, and lack of transparency in the justice system. In light of these concerns, and of additional expressions of concern by the UN Human Rights Committee regarding the Ombudsperson's work, we are concerned that the structural problems in Turkmenistan’s extremely repressive political system do not allow the Ombudsperson the independence, pluralism, diversity, and accountability required to be in compliance with the Paris Principles. [1]

During its Fourth Universal Periodic Review in November 2023, Turkmenistan received and supported numerous recommendations to strengthen the mandate and independent role of the Ombudsperson and the Ombudsperson’s Office that would be in compliance with the Paris Principles.[2] Although it is too soon to assess the government’s actions on these recommendations, failure to act on them would further indicate that Turkmenistan is not committed to address the concerns outlined below.

Scope of this Submission

This submission focuses on the protection component of the Ombudsperson’s mandate, relating primarily to violations of civil and political rights that Human Rights Watch has monitored. It does not cover the Ombudsperson’s work to promote human rights, such as workshops, trainings and awareness-raising activities, as we are not in a position to assess these.

General Human Rights Situation

Turkmenistan’s government is extremely repressive. The country is cut off from almost all on-the-ground, transparent, and independent human rights scrutiny, with UN special procedures and nongovernmental organizations alike denied access to the country. The former president, his relatives, and their associates maintain nearly unlimited control over all aspects of public life.

Turkmen authorities regularly prosecute and imprison critics of the government on bogus grounds. It is not possible to determine the actual number of those imprisoned on politically motivated grounds because the justice system lacks transparency and there is no independent monitoring of these cases.

The government tolerates no political pluralism, independent media or nongovernmental organizations. Access to the internet remains severely limited and authorities intermittently block access to the Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). In recent years Turkmen authorities persecuted users and providers of VPNs by imposing warnings and fines and subjecting some to short-terms arrests.[3]

Authorities jail perceived opponents and government critics. The fate and whereabouts of dozens of victims of enforced disappearances remain unknown. Freedom of movement is subject to substantial restrictions. Authorities used Covid-19 as a pretext to keep the county’s borders closed from spring 2020 to at least through May 2022 for nearly all travel.

Elections and Parliament

In March 2022, following elections that lacked all conditions essential for a free and fair vote — genuine competition, free media, and freedom of association — Serdar Berdymukhamedov became president after his father, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, resigned the presidency. Eight other nominal candidates aligned themselves with Berdymukhamedov’s policies. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) did not monitor the vote due to lack of “political pluralism.”

In January 2023, constitutional changes reverted Turkmenistan’s parliament to a unicameral institution and reintroduced the People’s Council as the highest body. The council includes representatives of all branches of government and oversees all policy, raising serious questions about separation of powers in government. It is headed by the former president, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.

In March 2023, Turkmenistan held elections for parliament and for local and provincial assemblies, also without the rights to freedom of expression and association, and the lack of independent media or political pluralism. The OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE ODIHR), which conducts election monitoring in countries in the region,  decided  not to “carry out systematic or comprehensive observation of the voting.”[4]

Independence

Turkmenistan’s Ombudsperson is nominated by the president and confirmed by parliament.

The absence of pluralism in Turkmenistan, the government’s complete intolerance of criticism, and its refusal to have even a semblance of separation of powers make it extremely unlikely that the Ombudsperson could operate with the independence required by the Paris Principles to carry out its activities without undue government interference.

The Ombudsperson’s Annual Reports

The Ombudsperson’s main publications are its annual reports.[5] The annual reports provide information about, among other things, complaints related to civil and political rights, and social and economic rights received by the Ombudsperson. They include appeals related to housing and labor rights, the rights to health care and education, migration issues, including access to passports inside Turkmenistan, court decisions and their implementation, “dissatisfaction with the actions of law enforcement officers” and other issues. Notably lacking from these reports are any issues related to politically motivated human rights violations. Given the scale of rights violations of this nature, the failure of the Office of the Ombudsperson to reflect on such issues in its reports – or note that the high level of repression in the country meant that no one filed such complaints – is indicative of the Ombudsperson’s perceived role.

Lack of Constructive Engagement with Civil Society

Even if the Ombudsperson were inclined to engage constructively with civil society, there is currently no independent civil society in Turkmenistan with which to engage. Unregistered activities are outlawed, and registration requirements are burdensome. There are no independent human rights organizations, and international monitors cannot freely operate. We are not aware of any independent nongovernmental organizations registered since the adoption of amendments to the Law on Public Associations in 2020.

Authorities constantly threaten and harass the few civil society activists in Turkmenistan and punish all forms of dissent and public criticism, including by imprisoning them on baseless charges, imposing travel bans, and interfering with their work.

Activists living abroad and their relatives in Turkmenistan face constant threats of government reprisals. Turkmen rights groups in exile reported that several activists living abroad were deported back to Turkmenistan in 2023 despite evident risks to their lives and freedom.

According to independent human rights groups in exile, the Ombudsperson does not engage and respond to their requests relating to human rights concerns and individual complaints they raise.


 

[1] “In Dialogue with the Turkmenistan, Experts of the Human Rights Committee Praise Measures to Review Judicial Independence, Raise Issues Concerning Corruption and Targeting of Human Rights Defenders,” United Nations news release, March 3, 2023 https://www.ohchr.org/en/news/2023/03/dialogue-turkmenistan-experts-human-rights-committee-praise-measures-review-judicial (accessed May 31, 2024).

[2] UNHRC, “Fourth Universal Periodic Review of Turkmenistan,” November 6, 2023 https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/upr/tm-index(accessed May 31, 2024).

[3] Human Rights Watch, World Report 2024 (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2024), Turkmenistan chapter, https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2024/country-chapters/turkmenistan.

[4] OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, “Election Assessment Mission: Turkmenistan Parliamentary Elections, 26 March 2023,” (March 26, 2023), https://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/turkmenistan/537194 (accessed May 31, 2024).

[5] Human Rights Ombudsman of Turkmenistan, Reports of Authorized Representative for Human Rights in Turkmenistan – Ombudsman on their activities and the situation in the field of human rights in the country in 2022 (Уполномоченного представителя по правам человека в Туркменистане – Омбудсмена о его деятельности и о ситуации в области прав человекa в стране в 2022 году), (Ashgabad: Human Rights Ombudsman of Turkmenistan, 2022) https://ombudsman.gov.tm/reports.html (accessed May 31, 2024). 

Your tax deductible gift can help stop human rights violations and save lives around the world.

Donate today to protect and defend human rights

Human Rights Watch operates in over 100 countries, where we work to investigate and document human rights abuses, expose the truth and hold perpetrators to account. Your generosity helps us continue to research abuses, report on our findings, and advocate for change, ensuring that human rights are protected for all.