Turkmenistan: Joint NGO Report for UN Committee against Torture Review

The United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) will review Turkmenistan’s implementation of the Convention against Torture at its session in Geneva on 23–24 April 2025. The Committee will assess the progress Turkmenistan has made since its record was last examined in 2016 and issue conclusions and recommendations for follow-up.

Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights (TIHR) and International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) have jointly submitted a report for the CAT review. The submission outlines key concerns regarding the national human rights institution, protection from torture, detention conditions and the lack of independent monitoring, enforced disappearances, conditions in psychiatric institutions, abusive practices against women and girls, and the persecution of civil society representatives, including through imprisonment and torture. It also includes recommendations for steps the Turkmenistani authorities should be requested to take to address these issues.

The TIHR-IPHR report can be downloaded below.

On 17 April 2025, representatives of TIHR, IPHR, and other civil society organisations that submitted reports for Turkmenistan’s review took part in an online briefing with members of the Committee. During the briefing, they provided additional information about the situation in the country. The statement delivered by TIHR’s Chair at the meeting, on behalf of TIHR and IPHR, is available here (in Russian).