Turkmenistan strongly condemns racial discrimination and pursues an ongoing policy of mutual understanding among peoples and the prevention of any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, descent, national or ethnic origin.
The Turkmen delegation stated this at the 110th session of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in Geneva, which takes place from 7 to 31 August 2023 at the United Nations Office.
The Turkmen delegation, which includes representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, law enforcement agencies, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Ministry of Justice, Parliament and the National Institute for Human Rights, is headed by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Vepa Hadjiev.
During the first day of the session, the questions concerning the implementation of the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination have been discussed.
During their statements, the delegation of Turkmenistan provided information on positive developments in the political, economic, legal and socio-cultural spheres of Turkmen society.
It was emphasized that Turkmenistan bases its efforts to eliminate racial discrimination on the principles of the Convention, the Durban Declaration and the Programme of Action. At the national level, these principles are upheld and taken into account both in improving legislation and in law enforcement practice.
The report submitted by Turkmenistan covers the period from 2016 to 2019 and contains information on key legislative, judicial, administrative, practical measures directly related to the provisions of the Convention and actions taken since the submission of Turkmenistan’s report in 2015.
As the head of the Turkmen delegation stated in his opening speech, according to the latest population census, representatives of 61 nationalities live in Turkmenistan, whose number exceeds 936,000, which is 14% of the total population of the country.
It was noted that the Government of Turkmenistan is implementing all necessary legislative and practical measures aimed at eliminating all forms of racial discrimination.
Turkmenistan has approved and is implementing the National Action Plan for the Eradication of Statelessness for 2019-24, the National Action Plan for the Realization of Children’s Rights for 2023-2028, the National Action Plan for Gender Equality for 2021-2025, and the National Action Plan for Human Rights for 2021-2025.
Currently, a draft National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking for 2023-2026 is being developed.
The objective of all action plans is to ensure and promote human rights, regardless of skin color, race, political and religious beliefs, nationality, gender and origin.
Certain steps are also being taken to strengthen the Ombudsman’s Office in the country. In 2022, the budget of the Ombudsman’s Office was doubled compared to 2021. The UN and OSCE agencies provide technical support in building up the capacity of the Ombudsman’s office.
The head of the Turkmen delegation also emphasized the measures taken by the authorities to protect the most vulnerable categories of people, namely stateless persons, refugees, and migrants. In light of the positive momentum in addressing the issue of statelessness, Turkmenistan plans to host a regional conference on this topic in 2024.
It was stressed that from 2011 to the present, Turkmenistan has granted its citizenship to 29,697 people, of which 7631 people were admitted to citizenship in the period from 2019 to 2023. 4,438 foreign citizens and stateless persons have received a residence permit in Turkmenistan.
According to statistics, the documents of 1,530 representatives of 26 nationalities were reviewed. 315 applications of representatives of 23 nationalities from 9 countries were considered for the issuance of a residence permit in Turkmenistan, Hadjiev said.
At the end of his speech, deputy foreign minister said that Turkmenistan continues to reform the national human rights protection system, which includes legal and institutional components. At the same time, special attention is paid to the implementation of international commitments in the field of human rights, the recommendations of the UN treaty bodies on the submitted national reports.
Turkmenistan ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination on 23 September 1994. ///nCa, 22 August 2023
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