Turkmenistan

Ashgabat, 9 August 2010 - The preparation of Turkmenistan's periodic report under the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was reviewed at a two-day workshop in Ashgabat during 5-6 August 2010. The workshop was organized by the EU/UNDP/OHCHR project "Strengthening the National Capacity of Turkmenistan to Pr... otect and Promote Human Rights" jointly with the United Nations Population Fund in Turkmenistan (UNFPA) and the Turkmen National Institute for Democracy and Human Rights (NIDHR) under the President of Turkmenistan. The workshop brought together members of the national Working Group of the Interdepartmental Commission on ensuring Turkmenistan's compliance with its international human rights commitments, representing relevant ministries, agencies, and law enforcement organizations and the experts of the Turkmen National Institute for Democracy and Human Rights under the President of Turkmenistan. The workshop was led by Ms. Pramilla Patten, International Expert on women's rights and member of the UN CEDAW Committee. Participants at the workshop discussed the provision of technical expertise to build Turkmenistan's capacity to the preparation of the CEDAW periodic reports and got acquainted with working methods of the UN CEDAW Committee, the monitoring body of the Convention. Turkmenistan acceded to the CEDAW in 1997 and submitted its initial and second periodic report to the UN CEDAW Committee in 2004. Turkmenistan aims to submit its next periodic report by the end of this year. Highlighting the importance of the joint work for preparation of the next periodic report of Turkmenistan under the CEDAW, Director of NIDHR Ms. Yazdursun Gurbannazarova said that Turkmenistan had done a lot to protect women's rights, and there is a solid legal base in place to promote these efforts further. According to her, the challenge now is to fully reflect Turkmenistan's progress in the report. She encouraged participants to engage as much as possible with the UN CEDAW Committee expert ...Read More