First of all, thank you for the opportunity to address the readers of your newspaper on the cooperation between the United Nations and the Government of Turkmenistan in the area of human rights. I would like to focus my comments on the international commitments that Turkmenistan has made to implement the treaties it is a party to, then on our joint activities that we provide to your Government in this area. Next, I will give an overview of the high level dialogues that Turkmenistan has engaged in this year, and some of the steps that the Government is making towards implementing its human rights obligations in practice. I think that it is important to remind our readers that Turkmenistan has acceded to a large number of international conventions, after gaining its independence, including six core human rights conventions. The six core conventions that Turkmenistan acceded to require close monitoring of human rights of people, including economic, social, cultural rights; political and civil rights; rights of children, elimination of  racial/ethnic discrimination, discrimination against women, and protection against torture. This is being done by submitting periodic reports to treaty bodies, committees that monitor progress made on protection of human rights under each of these core treaties.

Turkmenistan started the process of reporting to the treaty bodies, and has so far submitted reports on the Convention on Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Now is the time to focus on implementing the Treaty Body recommendations as contained in the three sets of Concluding Observations of the three conventions noted above.  The UN, together with other international agencies is assisting the Government of Turkmenistan, within the framework of the current Nited Nations Development Programme (UNDP)/ Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) project, “Building of Reporting Capacities in Turkmenistan.” The goal of this joint project is to support and strengthen the capacity of the Government of Turkmenistan to fulfill its obligations under the core international human rights treaties that I mentioned earlier. In particular, the project is focusing on working with your Government on the development of State reports to the United Nations treaty bodies and the implementation of the recommendations of these treaty bodies in legislation and practice in Turkmenistan. This project is led by Ms. Irina Liczek, UN Chief Technical Advisor, who conducted a number of fruitful consultations with the Institute of Democracy and Human Rights on preparing reports. Ms. Liczek is also conducting thematic workshops that focus on meeting the international commitments in the area of human rights and the role of national institutions in advancing these processes.

These consultations have resulted in, what I would characterize as an important first step, namely the recent establishment by presidential decree of an inter-departmental commission mandated to ensure that Turkmenistan complies with its international obligations in human rights. We are happy about this development because we see it as a commitment from the government to systematically engage in constructive dialogue with the monitoring bodies on human rights. Our joint cooperation with your Government will soon be expanded upon through a joint project of UNDP/OHCHR and the European Union entitled “Strengthening the national capacity of Turkmenistan to promote and protect human rights,” that builds on the current project and is set to start in 2008. It was agreed with your Government that this new project will include such activities as trainings on human rights that would lead to systematic report preparation to treaty bodies and monitoring of implementation of human rights in practice through follow up on the concluding observations. The project will also support human rights education in schools, universities and for the public in general, as well as trainings for the judiciary and law enforcement bodies. During her first visit in Turkmenistan from 3-5 May 2007, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights much appreciated your Government’s openness to cooperate in the field of human rights and noted the recently announced reforms, among others education, local development, ICT development, and the economic sphere.

The High Commissioner welcomed the invitation from the government to the UN Special Rapporteur on Religious Freedoms, set to visit Turkmenistan next year. The expanding of the right to quality education was particularly highlighted, since building human capital and civil society is fundamental for progress and development. Among other issues, the High Commissioner also addressed the importance of empowering the civil society and providing it with democratic space for its activities, ensuring proper balance between the executive, legislative and judicial branches. She encouraged the Government to consider the establishment of an independent national human rights institution in conformity with international standards. In summary, for implementing human rights, we need to work on all fronts at the same time:Civil and political rights Economic, social and cultural rights, and Institutional strengthening and capacity building As you can see, the United Nations is prepared to assist Turkmenistan in the short and long-term to meet these challenges for the benefit of the Turkmen people - building on our very good record of past cooperation.