On November 25, representatives of the European Union visited Ashgabat, where the 14th round of the dialogue on human rights between the EU and Turkmenistan took place.
The Turkmen delegation was headed by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Vepa Khadzhiev , the EU side was represented by Andrea Rossi , Deputy Head of the European External Action Service for the Central Asian Region .
As the press service of the EU Foreign Office writes , during the talks the issues of the state of civil society, restrictions on freedom of assembly and freedom of speech were raised. Also, representatives of the European Union expressed concern about torture, ill-treatment and enforced disappearances of people in places of detention.
Turkmenistan must demonstrate its willingness to address the challenges of holding free and transparent elections that have been identified by the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
The EU representatives called on the Turkmen authorities to cooperate with the UN monitoring bodies and special procedures to ensure an independent assessment of the progress made in the field of human rights and recalled the universal periodic review, which Turkmenistan should submit in 2023.
The parties also discussed issues of gender equality, the use of forced labor in the cotton fields.
The Turkmen side was given a list of cases of concern.
Before the visit, the human rights organizations IPHR and TIHR handed over to the representatives of the European Union an overview document with the most important issues that should be discussed with the delegation of Turkmenistan, as well as a list of people who were arrested for criticizing the country’s authorities.
On November 22, the international human rights campaign “Prove They Are Alive” called on OSCE countries to develop mechanisms to end enforced disappearances in Turkmenistan.
Source: Chronicles of Turkmenistan