Watchdog

Don't be fooled by the Turkmen government's claims of reform, a Turkmen rights group says in a new report.

The Vienna-based Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights (TIHR) says the new authorities in Turkmenistan "continue to violate the right to freedom of speech and the right to free access to information."

Freedom of the mass media is "nonexistent" in Turkmenistan, it concludes.

TIHR says the new regime in Ashgabat, led by President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, has sought to build its image by contrasting its actions and decisions with the iron-fisted rule of the late President Saparmurat Niyazov. Niyazov died suddenly in office in December 2006.

The group says this may mislead international observers into believing the current Turkmen authorities are prepared to implement democratic reforms.

TIHR Chairman Farid Tukhbatullin Rights says Turkmenistan's 24 newspapers, 15 magazines, four television channels, and four radio stations remain government-controlled.

"If some kind of independent newspaper, even with a small circulation, or website appeared in Turkmenistan, that would already be a big step toward what the Turkmen authorities are promising," Tukhbatullin told The Associated Press. "But over the last two years, nothing of that kind has appeared."

Only one Turkish-owned classified advertising publication is not state-controlled.

The group is urging the Turkmen government to pass laws guaranteeing freedom of expression and access to information. It is also calling for an independent investigation into the unexplained death in prison in September 2006 of Ogulsapar Muradova, a rights activist and correspondent for RFE/RL's Turkmen Service.

The new UN high commissioner for human rights, Navanetham Pillay, today called for an open debate about racism and religious intolerance, taking aim at countries threatening to boycott a summit on those issues.

In her first speech to the UN Human Rights Council, the former International Criminal Court judge said next April's already contentious UN conference on racism and xenophobia would be impoverished if the United States and others sat it out.

"Let's not forget that diversity of opinions is often an inherent and welcome characteristic of relationships among peers," she said. "Should differences be allowed to become pretexts for inaction, the hopes and aspirations of the many victims of intolerance would be dashed, perhaps irreparably."

The United States and Israel walked out of the last big UN summit on racism, held in Durban in 2001, saying it had become a forum for anti-Semitism.

Canada has said it will not take part in the follow-up meeting planned for Geneva, and the United States, Britain, the Netherlands, and France have said they may stay away if Israel's treatment of the Palestinians again stands to eclipse all else.

Some are also concerned that Islamic countries will try to use the conference to push a declaration that could stifle free expression by labelling criticism of religions as defamatory.