Ashgabat, 4 February 2021: In December 2020 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the permanent neutrality United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Government of Turkmenistan launched a new joint project “Strengthening the institutional capacity of the Ombudsperson’s Office of Turkmenistan” between the UNDP and the Ombudsperson’s Office of Turkmenistan.

The main goal of the Project is the improvement of the system of protection, promotion and implementation of human rights in Turkmenistan by reforming national legislation in accordance with the human rights obligations of Turkmenistan international, as well as increasing the institutional capacity of the Ombudsperson’s Office.

In particular, the Project will focus on strengthening the independent and effective functions of the Ombudsperson’s Office in the protection of human rights in accordance with the Paris Principles. It should be noted that that this project is a multi-donor project with contributions from the Government of Finland and Government of Canada.

The project will bring international expertise from partnership of the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRI) Asian Pacific Forum (APF), UNDP and UN OHCHR to provide capacity building consultations on accreditation process at the Global Alliance of NHRIs (GANHRI) and assist the Ombudswoman in conducting capacity needs assessment.

To ensure participatory approach, the project will hold series of advocacy and awareness raising activities with different stakeholders, Parliament, law enforcement agencies, media, civil society, UN and donor’s community to facilitate a dialogue with the Ombudswoman on the accreditation process at the GANHRI.