TURKMENISTAN: HUMAN RIGHTS DONORS HAVE LOTS OF

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000397 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/CEN; DRL E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PGOV TX SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: HUMAN RIGHTS DONORS HAVE LOTS OF PLANS IN THE WORKS REF: ASHGABAT 198 ¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for Internet distribution. ¶2. (SBU) On March 26, the UNDP office in Ashgabat hosted a donor sub-group meeting on democratization, rule of law and human rights. Participants were representatives of UN organizations, diplomatic missions, and other international organizations. The purpose was to share information about current and planned projects and coordinate efforts in order to "move ahead in Turkmenistan." Inita Paulovica, the UNDP Deputy Resident Representative, mentioned that holding donor group meetings was a condition of EU funding for UNDP's Human Rights project that is just beginning (reftel) and would be convened on a bimonthly basis. ¶3. (SBU) Donors took turns describing their projects. The UK will support a media training program, assist in setting up an ombudsman system to handle citizen complaints, and work with German GTZ on penal reform efforts, including rewriting the penal code and study trips aboard. UNDP mentioned its current ombudsman project and UNICEF recalled its 2005 cooperation with Sweden to promote an ombudsman, which had no lasting result. GTZ stated its goal for a draft revised penal code by the end of 2009. It will also conduct a needs assessment on judicial training and received "informal support" from the Supreme Court for a project to publish judicial decisions. Finally, GTZ will conduct training for lawyers at the regional level in cooperation with the Ashgabat Lawyers Association. In addition to the EU-funded Human Rights project, the EU will also support a legal reform project tied to the possible adoption of an EU Interim Trade Agreement with Turkmenistan. A focus will be the introduction of international arbitration law, the requirements of which are clearly laid out and rigorous. The EU representative suggested that the legal training for this project could have a positive spillover effect for rule of law more broadly. OSCE will pursue media training for young journalists and training in human rights standards for lawyers, judges, law faculty and penitentiary officials. They will also work to build the Government's Institute for Democracy and Human Rights' (IDHR) capacity to address citizens' complaints. ¶4. (SBU) UNDP will continue its Democratic Governance program through capacity building at the local level in the run-up to this summer's local council elections. It's working with an interministerial group to draft a revised local government law. UNDP will also begin capacity building at the district level this year, meaning it will be promoting democratic reform at all three levels of Turkmenistan's Government structure. In the area of electoral support they are working to develop a unified electoral code and conducting grassroots civic education and training for journalists aimed at effective coverage of local elections. ¶5. (SBU) It was noted that Turkmenistan's Universal Periodic Review process was complete and that the Government is now supposed to follow-up on the recommendations. The Government will report this year on its compliance with the International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights. This provides an opportunity to encourage the Turkmenistan Government to address the situation of civil society in structural ways that could result in a long-term improvement. The Government will also report on compliance with the UN Convention Against Torture. ¶6. (SBU) COMMENT: One result of the EU-funded Human Rights project will be these donor group meetings, scheduled to take place bimonthly. Given the significant overlap in some of the initiatives, and the IDHR's central role as almost everyone's Turkmenistan government partner, it will be interesting to observe how implementation of this ambitious ASHGABAT 00000397 002 OF 002 agenda proceeds over coming months. END COMMENT. MILES