Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

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

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 noted that several provisions of the Criminal Code which provide for sanctions of correctional work or deprivation of liberty (both involving compulsory labour) are worded in terms broad enough to lend themselves to application as a means of punishment for the expression of views opposed to the established political, social or economic system. The provisions of the Criminal Code include:

• -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 19: 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 information, in its report, that no criminal cases have been launched or investigated under sections 176 and 192 of the Criminal Code.

The Committee also notes that, in its joint communication of 17 February 2021 to the Government of Turkmenistan, the United Nations (UN) independent human rights experts expressed serious concern about the alleged arbitrary arrest and criminal prosecution of a journalist which appeared to have been made in retaliation for his independent journalistic and human rights work. The Committee further notes from the joint communication that the journalist was sentenced to four years of deprivation of liberty for fraud under section 228(2) of the Criminal Code. In addition, the UN independent human rights experts referred to other alleged cases of detention and prosecution of independent journalists and human rights defenders who had been reportedly sentenced for what appeared to be legitimate journalistic and human rights-related activities. Furthermore, the Committee notes that the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, in its opinion No. 18/2022 of 18 May 2022, concluded that the arrest and detention of a lawyer for the criticism of the Government under sections 108 (intentional harm to health of moderate severity) and 279 (hooliganism) of the Criminal Code resulted from the exercise of the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly (A/HRC/WGAD/2022/18, paragraph 67).

The Committee recalls once again 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 range of activities which must be protected from punishment involving compulsory labour comprises the freedom to express political or ideological views (which may be exercised orally or through the press and other communications media), as well as various other generally recognized rights, such as the right of association and of assembly, through which citizens seek to secure the dissemination and acceptance of their views and which may also be affected by measures of political coercion. It also emphasizes that the Convention does not prohibit the application of penalties involving compulsory labour to persons who use violence, incite violence, or prepare acts of violence. (paragraphs 302 and 303 of the 2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions).

The Committee 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 also requests the Government to take measures to review sections 176(2), 177, 178, 191, 192 and 212 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 provide information on any progress made in this regard, as well as information on the application in practice of the above-mentioned sections of the Criminal Code, specifying the number of prosecutions, convictions and the types of penalties imposed.