The state visit of the president of Turkmenistan in Bern on Monday has attracted the attention of human rights organisations. Since 2006, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has served as the president of the Central Asian country, which many have accused of violating human rights.
The United Nations as well as other non-government organisations have had very little access to Turkmenistan since the late 1990s. Swiss human rights workers are calling on the Swiss authorities to broach the subject with Berdymukhamedov during his stay.
Some urgent topics would include the unlawful detention of dissidents, the strict travel restrictions that block access for human rights organisations, as well as freedom of expression and the media, according to Veronika Szente Goldston of Human Rights Watch (HRW).
Reports of torture and mistreatment in Turkmenistan prisons are also a priority, as Goldston, the HRW’s advocacy director for Europe and Central Asia, told the Swiss News Agency.
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Goldston said that Berdymukhamedov’s trip to Switzerland could be seen as an effort by the former Soviet republic to present itself as a respectable partner to western nations. The president of Turkmenistan has also travelled around France, Germany, Austria and Japan.
The fact that the human rights situation in Turkmenistan has not improved also reflects on that nations that do business with the country.
“Up until now they have failed to issue concrete demands and build up pressure regarding human rights,” Goldston said.
In a letter to Swiss President Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, Manon Schick, the managing director of the Swiss section of Amnesty International, demanded that the issue of human rights not be swept under the rug. Schick cited the reports of torture in Turkmen prisons: “Dissident voices are silenced”.
According to the Swiss foreign ministry, economic relations are the primary agenda of Monday’s talks. Turkmenistan has sizeable gas and oil reserves. The country is also a member of the Swiss-led Helvetistan group at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.