OREANDA-NEWS. April 08, 2010. The two-day workshop on the improvement of the activities of the national human rights institutions is conducted in the Turkmen capital.

The members of the working group of the Interagency Commission for Monitoring the Implementation of the International Human Rights Commitments of Turkmenistan and the specialists of the Turkmen National Institute for Democracy and Human Rights under President of Turkmenistan participate in the seminar jointly organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, the Turkmen National Institute for Democracy and Human Rights under President of Turkmenistan and the UN Development Programme in Turkmenistan (UNDP). An international expert in human rights Richard Carver was invited in Ashgabat to take part in the seminar organized under the joint project of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Commission and the United Nations Development Programme entitled “Strengthening the national capacity of Turkmenistan to promote and protect human rights”.

The presentations on the structure and content of the Paris Principles and the international standards set forth for national institutions by this document were made during the workshop. The participants were briefed on a variety of the models of national institutions existing in foreign countries including the Human Rights Commission on, the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee, the Human Rights Ombudsman and other institutions.

Focusing on the critical importance of the meetings conducted in close cooperation with the large international institutions, particularly the United Nations, the participants stated that during the past few years a wide range of the activities had been carried out on the initiative of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to further strengthen the legal foundations and the democratic traditions of the Turkmen society and guarantee the political, economic, social and other rights of every citizen. The important steps in this field included improving the national legislation, implementing international human rights norms, adopting the new Constitution, establishing the advisory bodies including the Interagency Commission that monitored the implementation of the international human rights commitments of Turkmenistan. Viewing the establishment of the Commission as a positive factor and another indisputable evidence of Turkmenistan’s commitment to the democratization policy, the seminar organizers expressed belief that traditional partnership to study international practice, which could be adopted by the national institutions to ensure the more effective, fruitful work, would be successfully continued.