A new report by the Eurasian Coalition on Health, Rights, Gender and Sexual Diversity (ECOM) highlights that Central Asia remains a region dominated by authoritarian regimes, and has been experiencing a consistent democratic backsliding, and deterioration in human rights. With conditions continuing to deteriorate in 2023-2024, LGBT individuals are among the most affected since there are no mechanisms at the legislative level to protect the human rights of the LGBT community.
Alarming conditions in Turkmenistan
The complete isolation of Turkmenistan makes monitoring and assessing the actual human rights situation challenging, but reports available reflect extremely alarming conditions. Tight control over civil society, widespread corruption, and the absence of registered LGBT or human rights organizations, coupled with state controls over all media, block information flow, making it impossible to monitor independently.
In the Freedom House index, Turkmenistan is ranked 2/100 for political freedom and civil liberties. In Transparency International’s rating, it holds 20 points out of 100 in terms of corruption, which undermines justice and rights of LGBT communities.
Consensual same-sex relations between adult men are criminalized under Article 135 of the Criminal Code of Turkmenistan, creating an environment of fear, extortion, threats, and arbitrary detention. High public stigma and the criminalization of same-sex relations are pervasive due to state-driven homophobia, making it extremely difficult for individuals to seek any form of safe assistance.
Recommendations to the government of Turkmenistan
It is important to note that UN Human Rights Committee have previously recommended that the Government of Turkmenistan: (a) Repeal Article 135 of the Criminal Code in order to bring its legislation into compliance with the Covenant; (b) Take measures to effectively combat all forms of social stigmatization, harassment, incitement to hatred, discrimination, or violence against persons based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Yet, the Turkmen government has failed to act on the UN recommendations to decriminalize consensual sexual relations between adults of the same sex and the adoption of protective anti-discrimination legislation. Legal gender recognition is not possible, and legislative, social, or medical support is unavailable for those who have begun preparing to change their gender marker.
Turkmen government repression is so severe that up to now, no LGBT groups are officially registered; attempts to advocate for human rights violations against LGBT communities are being constantly suppressed and largely undocumented.
The ECOM report concludes with a series of recommendations for international donors, global organizations, and regional partners to support the LGBT community in the region by the following concrete actions:
- Systematically collecting and publishing the verified data on human rights violations and regularly providing recommendations for each Central Asian state.
- Prioritizing the promotion of the decriminalization of same-sex relations in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, ensuring access to justice.
- Channelling funds to civil society initiatives working on human rights, advocating decriminalization, protection, and LGBT health and social programs, and simplifying the access of LGBT organizations to international grants and financial support.
- Including demands to improve LGBT rights in the agenda of negotiations with governments of the Central Asian region as part of the conditions for receiving technical assistance.
- Providing resources and a safe space for activists and human rights defenders facing persecution.
