UNDP and UK Embassy in Turkmenistan to Raise Awareness of Human Rights and Celebrate 70th Anniversary of UDHR

July 20, 2018

Ashgabat, 13 July 2018: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), jointly with the National Institute of Democracy and Human Rights under the President of Turkmenistan with financial support of the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Turkmenistan cooperate to launch the campaign dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) to promote UDHR in Turkmenistan.

“Only through empowering, advocating and promoting rights of individuals by efforts of not only state but also non-state actors, including academia, civil society, local communities and development partners, there can be seen an increased demand in protection of rights and shift towards accountability in practices of state authorities,” noted Yelena Butova, UNDP Project Manager.

The project activities will focus on awareness-raising among government officials and public at large on human rights, international human rights obligations of Turkmenistan, as well as on the mandate and work of the Ombudsperson Office. Series of awareness raising events will include human rights roundtables with government officials, civil society and youth at the Human Rights Resource Centres;  interactive intellectual “Brain Ring” games and lectures at the universities in Ashgabat and 2 velayats. A high-level advocacy roundtable with the Ombudsperson’s Office and development partners to promote human rights interventions in the country is also planned within the project.

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Global campaign dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights to promote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) kicked off in December 2017. This provides a good space for Turkmenistan joining the global campaign and raising awareness of what the UDHR means for people in their everyday lives.