Turkmenistan

The report from Turkmenistan is very short and does not include information on child labour and refugee/migrant children. In the near future, Turkmenistan will need to work on making it easier for children, especially girls, to express their opinions. Improvements are also necessary in the area of juvenile justice.

The Committee is concerned at the State party’s limited efforts to tackle discrimination against girls and to modify or eliminate stereotypes and negative traditional values and practices. The Committee therefore recommends to undertake comprehensive public education and awareness-raising campaigns, in particular in rural areas, to prevent and combat negative societal attitudes, including discrimination, based on, inter alia, sex, gender, nationality, ethnicity or religion.

The Committee notes as positive the efforts of the State party to provide children with disabilities with inclusive education, inter alia, through the creation of a network of “child-friendly schools”. However, the Committee is concerned that information is lacking with regard to the community-based rehabilitation programmes and home-based care for children with disabilities. Also, children with disabilities reaching the age of 16 are treated as adults for the purpose of disability allowances or other forms of support. Professionals such as psychologists and social workers are not adequately trained to support the needs of children with disabilities.
Therefore, the Committee urges the State party to adopt a human rights-based approach to disability and to develop community-based rehabilitation programmes and home-based care, with a view to reducing the institutionalization of children with disabilities. It also urges Turkmenistan to accelerate its efforts towards the inclusive education of children with disabilities and extend the network of “child-friendly schools” and ensure that the staff are sufficiently and appropriately trained. Turkmenistan should also make the child disability allowances payable up to the age of 18 and ensure that adequate human, technical and financial resources are allocated to alternative care centres and relevant child-protection services.

The Committee is concerned at reports of the insufficient number of family doctors, nurses and midwifes, in particular in rural areas, the lack of medicines and the acute need to improve the knowledge and skills of medical personnel.
To guarantee every child the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, the Committee recommends that the State party ensure a sufficient number of family doctors, nurses and midwives, and increase the availability of medicines, especially in rural areas, as well as take measures to ensure that all personnel responsible for the health care of children are well qualified and well trained.

While noting that the suicide rate among adolescents has decreased, the Committee remains concerned about the persistence of this phenomenon in the State party. The Committee recommends that the State party strengthen its efforts to prevent suicide among children and youth, including by increasing psychological consultation services and special psychosocial support programmes, and by addressing the root causes of the phenomenon. Moreover, the State party should collect disaggregated data on the occurrence of suicide.

While welcoming information on the 12 per cent decrease in child morbidity in the Dashoguz region, the Committee remains concerned at the damaging effects of the Aral Sea crisis on children living in nearby areas and the reports of high rates of infant and maternal mortality, as well as high rates of deaths due to cancer, which are attributed to environmental pollution, especially in the Dashoguz region.
The Committee urges the State party to promptly assess the health situation of children living in the Aral Sea area, particularly in the Dashoguz region, with a view to ensuring the prompt provision of the necessary health services to all children, with an emphasis on the development of primary health care. The Committee also urges the State party to continue addressing the issue of infant and maternal mortality and the rates of death due to cancer in the Aral Sea area.

The Committee urges the State party to expeditiously establish specialized juvenile court facilities and procedures, with adequate human, technical and financial resources, designate specialized judges for children and ensure that such judges receive appropriate education and training. It should also ensure the provision of qualified and independent legal aid to children in conflict with the law at an early stage and throughout the legal proceedings. Further, the Committee urges Turkmenistan to promote alternative measures to detention, such as diversion, probation, mediation, counselling or community service, whenever possible, and ensure that detention is used as a measure of last resort and for the shortest possible period of time and that it is reviewed on a regular basis with a view to ending it. It should also ensure that, in cases where detention is unavoidable, the children are not detained together with adults and that detention conditions are compliant with international standards, including with regard to access to education and health services.

The Committee is concerned that certain gaps remain that may lead to the statelessness of children born in the State party.
The Committee recommends that the State party review its citizenship legislation and procedures to ensure their full compliance with international standards aimed at the prevention and reduction of statelessness and ensure that all children born in its territory acquire Turkmen nationality, if otherwise they would be stateless, irrespective of the legal status of their parents.

The Committee expresses concern at reports that the State party systematically limits the right of the child to freedom of expression and that prevailing traditional societal attitudes in the family and in other settings regarding the role of children make it difficult for children to seek and impart information freely and to express their views on public matters openly.

Concluding observations on the second to fourth periodic reports released on 10 march 2015.More information about education in Turkmenistan: https://www.unicef.org