Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Turkmenistan (Ratification: 1997)

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Article 1(a) of the Convention. Penal sanctions involving compulsory labour as a punishment for expressing political views or views ideologically opposed to the established political, social or economic system. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to take measures to review the following sections of the Criminal Code by clearly restricting the scope of these provisions to situations connected with the use of violence or incitement to violence, or by repealing sanctions involving compulsory labour:

• section 176(2): insult or defamation against the President;
• section 177: incitement of social, national or religious enmity;
• section 178: abuse of the State symbols;
• section 191: contempt of court;
• section 192: libel against a judge, lay judge, prosecutor, investigator or the person conducting the inquiry; and
• section 212: insult of a representative of authority.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report concerning the 2022 amendments to the Criminal Code. In particular, the Committee takes due note that the Criminal Code, as amended in 2022, does not provide for a provision establishing criminal penalties for insulting a representative of the authorities. The Committee further observes that while sections 188(2) “insult or defamation against the President” and 189 “incitement of social, national, tribal, ethnic, racial, or religious enmity or discord” of the Criminal Code, as amended in 2022, do not establish the penalty of correctional labour, these sections provide for the penalty of deprivation of liberty which involves compulsory prison labour. The Government also indicates that for the period 2020–22, there were no convictions handed down under sections 188(2), 189, 193 “abuse of the State symbols”, 210 “contempt of court”, and 211 “libel against a judge, juror, prosecutor, investigator or the person conducting the inquiry” of the Criminal Code, as amended in 2022.

The Committee further notes that in its 2023 concluding observations, the United Nations Human Rights Committee expressed deep concern about reports of the widespread practice of persecution of civil society representatives and their relatives who peacefully exercise their freedom of expression both in Turkmenistan and abroad (CCPR/C/TKM/CO/3). The Committee also notes that in its 2023 concluding observations, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed concern about the repression of prominent human rights defenders working to protect ethnic minorities and recommended the Government to refrain from persecuting and intimidating human rights defenders (CERD/C/TKM/CO/12-13,).

The Committee recalls that Article 1(a) of the Convention protects persons who hold or express political views or views ideologically opposed to the established political, social or economic system by prohibiting the imposition on them of sanctions involving compulsory labour. The Committee points out in this respect that while the protection provided by the Convention does not extend to persons who use violence, incite to violence or engage in preparatory acts aimed at violence, penal sanctions involving compulsory labour fall within the scope of the Convention if they enforce a prohibition of the peaceful expression of views or of opposition to the established political, social or economic system (see the Committee’s 2012 General Survey on the fundamental conventions, paragraphs 302–303). The Committee therefore once again urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that, both in law and practice, no one who, in a peaceful manner, expresses political views or opposes the established political, social or economic system can be sentenced to sanctions under which compulsory labour is imposed. The Committee reiterates its request to the Government to take measures to review sections 188(2), 189, 193, and 210 of the Criminal Code by clearly restricting the scope of these provisions to situations connected with the use of violence or incitement to violence, or by repealing sanctions involving compulsory labour. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the number of prosecutions, convictions and the types of penalties imposed under the above-mentioned sections of the Criminal Code.