Central Asian Ombudsmen discuss the protection of human rights
The Second Forum "Preventing Torture by Joint Efforts of National Human Rights Institutions and the National Preventive Mechanism" is held in Astana. The meeting is attended by the Central Asian human rights commissioners, representatives of the UN agencies, the European Union, the OSCE, the International Prison Reform (PRI) and a number of other organizations.
The purpose of the event is the exchange of knowledge and practices in monitoring places of deprivation and restriction of freedom, including institutions such as public monitoring commissions and national mechanisms for the prevention of torture.
Within the framework of the forum, commissioners for human rights in Russia and Kazakhstan Tatyana Moskalkova and Askar Shakirov signed a memorandum of cooperation.
The document provides for improving the system of rendering assistance to citizens of the two states, strengthening mechanisms for restoring violated rights, applying a set of preventive measures in the field of protecting human and civil rights and freedoms, and exchanging information and experience on human rights issues.
Experts believe that such agreements on cooperation in the field of human rights protection can be concluded between other states in the region.
In Turkmenistan, the institution of the Ombudsman for Human Rights was established relatively recently. The law on the Ombudsman, developed at the initiative of President Berdimuhamedov, came into force on 1st January 2017, and in March of the same year the first human rights commissioner in the history of Turkmenistan was elected. This was Yazdursun Gurbannazarova, who headed the National Institute of Democracy and Human Rights under the President of Turkmenistan from 2010 to 2014, and the last three years prior to election as an Ombudsman worked as a deputy of the Turkmen parliament.
The Ombudsman is elected for a term of five years, and the same person may be elected to the said office for not more than two consecutive terms. The law determines the inviolability and independence of the ombudsman, as well as the transparency of his activities.
Every year, the Ombudsman submits a report on his activities and the situation of human rights in the country to the President of Turkmenistan.
One of the activities of the Ombudsman is the promotion of international cooperation in the field of human rights, the study and implementation of international standards, as well as the implementation of Turkmenistan's international obligations to protect human rights and freedoms.
