Delegation of the Ombudsperson's Office, headed by Yazdursun Gurbannazarova, Ombudsperson and the Authorized Representative for Human Rights in Turkmenistan, participated in the third interdepartmental roundtable of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, held in The Hague.
The event was attended by representatives of national human rights institutions, state structures dealing with issues of national minorities in OSCE participating States, international organizations, as well as international experts in the field of the rights of national minorities.
The roundtable discussed important issues such as data collection, analysis and handling of them. Issues of security, accessibility and reliability of data used in the development of policies regarding national minorities were also addressed during the sessions.
The participants of the meeting emphasized the important role of the discussions held for the development of cooperation and exchange of experiences, highlighting the need for further cooperation in integrating diverse societies.
Turkmenistan closely cooperates with the Office of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, which celebrated its 30th anniversary at the end of October this year. The priority directions for future cooperation were discussed during the meeting held in June between Rashid Meredov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, and Kairat Abdrakhmanov, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, who visited Ashgabat on a working visit.
The parties agreed, in particular, to develop a Roadmap for the implementation of the Memorandum of Cooperation on Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in Turkmenistan for 2023-2025, as well as to actively cooperate within the framework of the National Human Rights Action Plan in Turkmenistan for 2021-2025.
During the working visit, the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities participated in a roundtable discussion on the topic "The OSCE's good practices in the field of effective participation of national minorities and consultative mechanisms."
