The International human rights organization Human Rights Watch has published a statement calling on the governments of the Central Asia countries to consistently uphold human rights obligations in their responses to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The governments of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have taken important steps to limit the spread of COVID-19 and protect their citizens, including those affected economically. However, these governments have used the quarantine restrictions put in place in response to the crisis to target journalists and activists.
Turkmenistan and Tajikistan have yet to acknowledge the existence of Covid-19 cases in their countries.
“While Turkmenistan took steps to raise awareness about hand washing and other hygiene measures, for months state media and high-level government officials were mostly silent about Covid-19. The authorities have sought to silence medical workers and others speaking out about the impact of the virus in the country”, – human rights activists report.
Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch called on the governments of all Central Asia countries to protect their citizens’ right to health by providing timely accurate information about Covid-19.
“The governments should not use restrictions to muzzle journalists, healthcare providers and others attempting to inform the public or protect against rights violations”, Williamson said.
Below is the unabridged overview of the situation in Turkmenistan. The detailed information on other countries is available on the website of HRW.
Turkmenistan’s extremely authoritarian government has yet to acknowledge the existence of a single case of Covid-19 in the country, despite sporadic reports of cases.
The Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights, an independent group that operates from Vienna, in April spoke with sources at a center for people held in quarantine in Turkmenistan, who said that there were at least seven confirmed cases.
In an April 22 briefing with United Nations (UN) officials in Ashgabat, Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov said, “If there was a single confirmed coronavirus case, we would have immediately informed … the [World Health Organization] in line with our obligations.”
In February and March, the government limited entry to the country, closed the border, sporadically limited movement within the country, forcibly quarantined people returning from abroad, and conducted handwashing and other public awareness campaigns.
Starting at least in late January or early February, a government agency distributed brochures in hospitals, clinics, and certain state institutions about hygiene and other practices that could prevent Covid-19.
But in March, the Turkmen Initiative said, a new print run of the brochure had dropped the term “coronavirus,” and was oriented toward general prevention of acute respiratory infections.
In late March, a leaflet distributed in Ashgabat residents’ mailboxes showed six steps people could take specifically to avoid the spread of Covid-19.
The Turkmen Initiative said that a school in Ashgabat told pupils to bring their own supply of wipes and hand sanitizer and a thermometer to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
While spring holidays were extended by one week, schools have reopened.Businesses and public spaces also remain open. Local news outlets have reported about some measures being taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
These efforts contrast with the near silence, until early April, by high-level policymakers, who periodically cited government measures to fight viruses and infectious diseases, without specifying the global pandemic.
During a cabinet meeting in mid-March, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov recommended burning harmala, a desert plant, to prevent infectious diseases, without mentioning Covid-19.
He broke his silence only on April 3, telling the cabinet that the pandemic is a problem for the rest of the world, but not for Turkmenistan, while acknowledging that it would affect the country’s economy.
According to media reports, during the April 22 briefing in Ashgabat, the health minister said Turkmenistan has 30,000 test kits and was ordering 40,000 more, that 151 people remained in quarantine facilities, and that the country had reopened its border crossings.
The authorities are going to significant lengths to prevent any information from reaching the public about Covid-19 cases within the country or difficulties medical workers might be facing in treating them.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported that, in late March, even as authorities were increasing measures to prevent the spread of the virus, police in civilian clothes threatened people at bus stops and in lines at grocery stores who were talking about coronavirus.
The Turkmen Initiative reported that in mid-April, security forces detained a doctor working in a quarantine facility and questioned him for two days, after he forgot to leave his cell phone in the locker before entering the facility.
The security officials did not return his phone, warned him that he could face criminal charges, and questioned his wife, including about whether she had relatives abroad who might “be interested in what goes on inside the quarantine zone.”
Earlier, Rights and Freedoms of Turkmen Citizens, an independent Prague-based human rights group that has contacts among the medical community in Turkmenistan, reported that doctors and junior medical personnel in four of the country’s five regions said they cannot bring their cell phones into work with them.
A member of staff in an Ashgabat clinic told the group that doctors and nurses had to sign a nondisclosure statement.The Turkmen Initiative also said they had spoken to a doctor from Ashgabat who said that authorities at healthcare facilities are warning staff that they will be fired if they spread information about Covid-19 and other contagious diseases.
The Rights and Freedoms group also said that a person who was released from one of the quarantine facilities told them they had not been given any documents showing that they had been through quarantine, or even informed about why they were there.