A/S BOUCHER'S TRIP TO ASHGABAT: DEMOCRACY AND

UNCLAS STATE 053968 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KDEM PGOV PHUM PREL TX SUBJECT: A/S BOUCHER'S TRIP TO ASHGABAT: DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS POINTS ¶1. Action request. See paragraph 2. ¶2. In advance of Assistant Secretary Boucher's visit to Turkmenistan next week, post is instructed to deliver to the Government of Turkmenistan the non-paper in para 3, which outlines some of the democracy and human rights points that Assistant Secretary Boucher will likely raise so that he and Turkmen officials will be able to have a more fulsome discussion. ¶3. BEGIN NON-PAPER: Steps for Further Democratic Reform and Human Rights Protection In the spirit of mutual cooperation and friendship, the United States offers a limited list of concrete next steps that would assist Turkmenistan's efforts in the fields of democratic reform and human rights, particularly, to meet its international human rights obligations. In response to President Berdimuhamedov's request for concrete proposals for areas of bilateral cooperation in the area of democratic development, the United States also wishes to propose a program of cooperative activities to supplement programs on which the Government of Turkmenistan already is working with the UN and OSCE directed toward assisting Turkmenistan to meet international standards. " Register the Turan Mugallym and Trust Group non-government organizations. " Make public the registration requirements for religious organizations and register organizations that meet them including the Svet Zhizni (Light of Life) and Imam Yoly (Path of Faith) groups. " Release prisoners of concern, including former Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Batyr Berdiev, Sapardurdy Hajiyev, Annakurban Amanklichev, and Mukhametkuli Aimuradov. " End harassment of RFE/RL journalists and their families and work towards accrediting RFE/RL's reporters. " Work to expand capacity to receive internet bandwidth and enable new Internet accounts to be issued to individuals. " Eliminate negative voting. Suggested Democracy and Human Rights Cooperation Proposals " In order to facilitate Turkmenistan's compliance with relevant international agreements, the United States proposes collaborating on training being provided by UN Development Program (UNDP),Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC),and others for law enforcement officials and prison guards on internationally accepted rules for treatment of suspects and prisoners and to facilitate a broader dialogue between law enforcement and the domestic and international human rights community. " The United States could expand training programs for journalists designed to improve professionalism, technical expertise, and basic reporting capabilities. " The U.S. could provide experts to help develop texts on civics for a basic civic education course as well as law school courses. " The U.S. could work with other organizations to expand the American Bar Association's Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative (ABA/CEELI) work on the online legal database and training for judges and defense lawyers and provide technical expertise on reforming the Civil and Criminal Procedure Codes. " The United States welcomes the establishment of a commission to review cases involving prisoners of concern. The United States could provide technical expertise on designing a transparent and effective system that meets international standards to identify and review cases involving prisoners of concern. " The United States could also establish a cooperative program through appropriate technical partners to provide expertise on the reform of Public Association legislation. " The U.S. seeks to work with Turkmenistan to increase access to the Internet, including through Internet Access Training Programs (IATP),American Corners, and exchanges. " The United States could work with Turkmenistan's Institute of Democracy and Human Rights to hold expert/comparative panel discussions to assist Turkmenistan's efforts to bring its laws and practices into conformance with international standards, including its Law on Civic Organizations, Law on Elections, and efforts to overhaul the juvenile justice system. END NON-PAPER RICE