Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan is one of the world’s most repressive countries, with an abysmal human rights record. Elected to a third term in 2017, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, his relatives and their associates control all aspects of public life. The government thoroughly denies freedoms of association, expression, and religion and the country is closed to independent scrutiny. The fate of dozens of people imprisoned during waves of arrests in the late 1990s and early 2000s remains unknown even to their relatives and several deaths of victims of enforced disappearance have been reported. Amendments to the constitution in 2016 did not provide adequate safeguards to protect fundamental rights and freedoms. The clampdown on the handful of independent journalists in Turkmenistan has significantly intensified.