In its November 2023 Universal Periodic Review (UPR), Turkmenistan accepted 146 out of 228 recommendations, supporting measures related to legal frameworks, civil and political rights, and economic, social, and cultural rights. The government stated its readiness for constructive cooperation with human rights mechanisms and noted the importance of aligning legislation with international standards.
But two years on, despite these public commitments on the international stage, the government has not issued even a single high-level policy statement to move forward on honoring its promises. It is not clear whether the government has either the political will or the institutional capacity to implement the recommendations it supported.
The United Nations in Turkmenistan keeps organizing meetings with government officials, but neither side has disclosed any details of those meetings and their outcomes.
Progres Foundation urges the Turkmen government to take immediate steps to launch an inclusive, consultative process to implement the accepted recommendations before its next UPR in 2028. At the moment, independent Turkmen and international civil society groups have been excluded from the process.
The Human Rights Council adopted Turkmenistan’s most recent fourth-cycle UPR at its 55th session in April 2024. In the review, diplomats from 77 countries around the world submitted 228 recommendations relevant to key human rights issue areas to the Turkmen government. As part of the UPR, the state under review may choose to accept or note each one (see a matrix of recommendations).
According to the UPR practice and the rule, states cannot formally reject recommendations; a recommendation is “Accepted” when the state under review clearly says so. If officials do not respond or do not clearly express their support, the UN deems the recommendation “Noted”. With the support of the international community, officials must implement each accepted recommendation, and the state is expected to report on such progress at its next UPR, which takes place on a 5-year cycle.
The UPR process has no enforcement mechanism for non-implementation.
The Turkmen government accepted a total of 146 recommendations in 2023, representing a 15 percent decrease compared to the UPR 3rd cycle in 2018. Even more alarming is the fact that while the government in 2018 immediately noted just 3 recommendations, and took several months to consult and deliberate on 90 additional recommendations, ultimately noting just 16 more, in 2023 the government declined to consult or deliberate at all, instead noting 82 recommendations within days of receiving them.
The majority of supported recommendations address less politically sensitive areas, such as access to education and healthcare, social development issues, and institutional capacity-building.
Women’s Rights
The government agreed to business as usual by supporting a recommendation to “strengthen efforts to fight gender-based violence, including domestic violence, by conducting educational and awareness-raising campaigns for the public, training employees in law enforcement and the judiciary, and formulating comprehensive support services for victims and survivors”.
The government also supported recommendations to:
- decriminalize abortion in addition to cases when the pregnancy threatens the mother’s life and when there is severe fetal impairment;
- guarantee universal access to sexual and reproductive health as part of universal health coverage and to affordable modern contraceptives and emergency contraception for all women and girls;
- ensure respect for women’s rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to drive and continue to advance the rights of women and their participation in public policy decision-making.
Recommendations the government did not support, but only noted:
- expedite the adoption of a comprehensive law specifically defining and criminalizing all forms of gender-based violence against women, in particular domestic violence, marital rape and sexual assault within marriage and outside marriage;
- remove barriers to movement by giving women equal opportunities to obtain a driving licence and abolish the residence permit system that restricts where people can live and work;
- ban forced “virginity tests” of women and girls and guarantee their access to affordable modern contraceptives and emergency contraception.
Access to Internet
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SUPPORT OUR WORKThe government supported a recommendation to “fully implement the constitutional provisions guaranteeing freedom of opinion, thought and expression, including by ensuring unobstructed Internet access to news websites and social networks”.
The government noted recommendations to ensurefree access to the Internet and cease all censorship of online and print media, and take concrete steps to ensure freedom of expression and guarantee free and uncensored access to the Internet.
Labor rights
Turkmenistan supported a recommendation “to develop and implement a time-bound national action plan to reform the root causes of forced labour and child labour in the cotton sector, in consultation with independent workers’ and employers’ organizations, civil society and the International Labor Organizaiton”.
Fundamental economic rights
The government supported a recommendation “Tocontinue to strengthen national efforts for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals with special attention on industrializing the provinces, building up production structures and increasing the population’s income”.
The government noted recommendations to increase efforts on poverty reduction and mobilization of resources to reduce the poverty rate in the country; to continue taking steps to ensure vulnerable groups and those living in poverty have adequate access to employment, health, education and social services; and to continue taking further steps to address food insecurity, including by developing a comprehensive database.
Other noted recommendations
The 82 remaining recommendations that the Turkmen government did not accept clustered predominantly on SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions), including fundamental freedoms, equality, the rule of law, and justice mechanisms, as well as calls to decriminalize the same-sex conduct of consenting adults and to introduce anti-discrimination laws for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) persons.
Importantly, the Turkmen government accepted a recommendation to ratify the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. In this regard, the follow-up communication by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) urged the government to accelerate the ratification process and issued further recommendations outlined below:
- Adopt concrete measures to guarantee the full respect of human rights and uphold fundamental freedoms.
- Cooperate with the ILO and implement the ILO’s recommendations to align its labour inspection system with international standards.
- Approve and adopt a national roadmap for follow-up to the UPR outcome, accompanied by adequate State budget allocations and inclusive stakeholder consultation.
- Integrate UPR recommendations with other international mechanisms and integrate them with the SDGs.
- Submit a voluntary mid-term UPR progress report by 2026 to demonstrate progress, challenges, and technical assistance needs to implementation efforts.
Turkmenistan, a UN member since 1992, participates in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process, established in 2006 to evaluate and improve human rights situation in the country. To date, Turkmenistan has undergone four UPRs, yet progress remains gradual, selective, and even regressive.
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique mechanism that requires each UN Member State to undergo a peer review of its human rights record every 5 years. It aims to improve the human rights situation in their countries, overcome challenges to the enjoyment of human rights, and share best practices. The UPR examines the extent to which States respect their human rights obligations set out in: the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, human rights instruments to which the State is party including voluntary pledges and commitments made by the State.
