Progress on human rights in Turkmenistan? Give me a break

April 19, 2006

On April 14 the Washington Post carried an editorial criticizing European policy makers for their efforts to give Turkmenistan Most Favored Nation trade status. As the Post points out, the European Commission’s argument that “Most Favored Nation” status is justified by “positive steps” on human rights is simply not tenable. Turkmen president Niyazov’s cult-of-personality rule and systematic economic mismanagement is robbing the country of its future.
I was until recently World Bank director for the five Central Asia “stans” (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan). The World Bank had no program in Turkmenistan because we could find no way to do anything remotely positive for its people. Natural gas is important to Europe. But it is the money Mr. Niyazov receives from natural gas sales that keeps him in power. While I am a strong advocate of engagement, in this case the European Parliament should reject Turkmenistan’s “most favored nation” status. If it does not, the EU must accept responsibility for supporting the ongoing destruction of a country and a people.

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1. James Says:
   April 19th, 2006 at 10:44 pm

   Turkmenistan is not the only Central Asian country that the EU has been courting. Hugues Mingarelli, European Commission Director for Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia, recently stated about Kazakhstan, “Our relationships are based on common values and interests including respect to supremacy of law, multisided democracy, observance of human rights and freedom of the press.”
   Obviously Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan are hardly comparable in this regard, and engagement between the EU and Kazakhstan will probably be beneficial to both parties, but it seems like the EU could at least use its support as a carrot to encourage reform that is needed in Kazakhstan. Why do you think that the EU is being so soft on Central Asia, and taking such a hard line in places like Belarus, where it is even going so far as to threaten sanctions? Does this really come down entirely to a matter of natural resources?

2. paul Says:
   April 20th, 2006 at 11:12 pm

   a related post; WorldBank and Dictators
   http://truckandbarter.com/mt/archives/2006/04/world_bank_and.html

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