The authorities of Turkmenistan have turned down 19 out of 191 recommendations submitted in May 2018 by the UN Human Rights Working group.
This was reported in the documents of the 39th session of the Universal Periodic Review which is being held in Geneva from 10 to 28 September 2018, according to the news outlet “Fergana”.
Turkmenistan accepted 98 recommendations, three were immediately rejected and 90 were considered for review.Based on the results of the review, the Turkmen authorities rejected 16 more recommendations. Comments were provided only on some clauses.
For instance, the Turkmen authorities refused to ratify the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention.The authorities explain that pursuant to the UN definition, peoples in independent countries are regarded as indigenous on account of their descent from the populations which inhabited the country, or a geographical region to which the country belongs, at the time of conquest or colonization.
The authorities emphasized that there are no people in Turkmenistan qualifying under this definition and for this reason ratification of the Convention is unnecessary.
Recommendations pertaining to decriminalizing sexual relations between consenting adults of the same sex and banning all forms of discrimination were turned down with the wording “in contradiction to the traditional views of the civil society”.
The recommendation to adopt the necessary measures in order to recognize the right to conscientious objection to compulsory military service was rejected on the grounds that “defending Turkmenistan is a sacred duty of each citizen”.
Moreover, the authorities refused to adopt the recommendation regarding compulsory HIV testing by explaining that these norms are not discriminatory and do not violate human rights.
As regards recommendations to take concrete measures to protect and respect individuals’ rights to exercise freedom of religion or belief, as well as remove criminal penalties restricting freedom of opinion and expression, it was stated that the Constitution of Turkmenistan safeguards the right to freedom of expression of citizens.
The recommendation to introduce legal measures that prohibit forced and child labour was rejected on the grounds that it has already been adopted the relevant statutes had been introduced in the revised Constitution of Turkmenistan.
Recommendations to lift incommunicado detention regime of those who are imprisoned, including in Ovadan-Depe prison, and to grant fair and adequate compensation to owners and residents of Ashgabat who were evicted from their properties, are included in the list of those which were rejected but without providing any comments.