MEETING OF THE INTERMINISTERIAL COMMISSION

On January 27, 2024, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan hosted a regular meeting of the Interministerial Commission to ensure the implementation of Turkmenistan’s international obligations in the field of human rights and international humanitarian law, which was attended by representatives of the Mejlis of Turkmenistan, a number of ministries, departments and public organizations of the country.

The agenda included a discussion of the results of the work carried out by the Interministerial Commission for 2023 and the tasks in 2024.

The meeting participants discussed the priority areas for upcoming work to further improve the activities of government bodies and public associations in the field of ensuring human rights and implementing the norms of international humanitarian law. It was noted that the legislative system of Turkmenistan is consistently developing, based on national experience and traditions, as well as with the goal of harmonization with generally recognized international standards.

During the discussion of the results of the work carried out during the reporting period, the speakers noted that the protection of the legitimate interests of citizens in accordance with international law is a priority vector of the state policy of neutral Fatherland.

The implementation on a systematic basis of the “National Action Plan for Human Rights in Turkmenistan for 2021-2025”, “National Action Plan of Turkmenistan for Gender Equality for 2021-2025”, “National Action Plan for the Realization of Children’s Rights for 2023-2028” are vivid confirmation. Another example is programs and projects implemented jointly with UN structures and other international organizations, within the framework of which concrete results have been achieved.

During the meeting, the Work Plan of this structure for 2024 was reviewed and the “Plan of Actions for 2024 – 2028 for the implementation of international humanitarian law (IHL) in Turkmenistan” was also discussed. During the discussion, it was noted the Program of the President of Turkmenistan for the socio-economic development of the country for 2022-2028 identifies priority areas for strengthening the role of human capital as the main factor in ensuring human rights and the development of civil society. In this context, at the meeting attention was paid to the issue of strengthening the institutional capacity of the Authorized Representative for Human Rights in Turkmenistan – the Ombudsman.

During the meeting, it was noted that improving the activities of government bodies to ensure the implementation of human rights, introducing digital technologies in all sectors of the economy and social sphere, creating new jobs, promoting the development of small and medium businesses, expanding employment in the private sector opens up new opportunities for the implementation of intellectual potential of the population.

In accordance with the Law “On State Youth Policy,” special importance is paid to popularizing a healthy lifestyle among young people, educating them in the spirit of patriotism, hard work, high morality and civic responsibility.

One of the main vectors activities of the Interministerial Commission is preparation of proposals for harmonizing national legislation with international law. In this regard, a set of measures taken during the reporting period was aimed at solving priority tasks to improve the legal system and the practical implementation of Turkmenistan’s international obligations in the field of human rights and freedoms.

In addition, the main tasks of the Interministerial Commission include ensuring the preparation of National Reports on the implementation of a number of conventions and the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and submission of them to the UN Committees. At the same time, the emphasis was placed on the achievements of Turkmenistan in the field of human rights and implementation of the international obligations in the field of humanitarian law.

It was emphasized, the Interministerial Commission paid great attention to the issues of increasing the legal knowledge of the population and expanding access to legal information.

As part of the exchange of views on further steps to fulfill the tasks defined in the Commission’s Work Plan for the current year, it was noted that in order to study the best practices in the field of human rights protection, a series of seminars, working meetings, and consultations with the participation of international experts are necessary to conduct.

The meeting also considered a number of other issues.