Child Soldiers Global Report 2008 - Turkmenistan

Population: 4.8 million (1.9 million under 18)
Government Armed Forces: 26,000
Compulsary Recruitment Age: 18
Voluntary Recruitment Age: 17
Voting Age: 18
Optional Protocol: acceded 29 April 2005
Other Treaties: GC AP I, GC AP II, CRC

The minimum age for voluntary recruitment was 17. Conscripts were employed in non-military roles to save government expenditure but were often unpaid.

Context:

President Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmen Communist Party Chief from 1985 and head of state since October 1990, died in December 2006. Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov was elected president in February 2007 with the support of key members of the security establishment. The new government made legislative and policy changes to improve the socio-economic situation and educational base, while also reportedly ensuring that any changes in the political and security fields did not weaken presidential powers.¹

Government:

National recruitment legislation and practice

Young men could be called up for compulsory military service at 18. Under the 2002 Conscription and Military Service Act (Article 15) the minimum age for voluntary military service was 17.² It was reportedly common for families to make boys volunteer at the age of 17 as a way to save money or to guard against their becoming involved with drugs or criminals.³ Army service was also seen as a way out of unemployment.⁴ Boys often saw no other options on leaving school.⁵

Education reforms in 2007 could potentially reduce the number of 17-year-olds joining the army. A presidential decree in March 2007 increased the number of years of compulsory education to ten. The requirement that students must have work experience before entering university was also abolished.⁶ The government said it wanted to facilitate students studying abroad.⁷ However, in September 2007 it was reported that 17-year-olds could still carry out their military service early.⁸

Longstanding problems within the military included widespread corruption in the Defence Ministry and the general staff, bribe taking by draft commissions, and incompetence. Clan rivalries sometimes led to violence against new recruits, sometimes with fatal outcomes.⁹ President Berdymuhammedov said publicly that more attention should be paid to the health of conscripts.¹⁰

Thousands of public sector workers were dismissed to reduce government expenditure in the last years of President Niyazov's rule. From 2002 onwards conscripts in the armed forces reportedly served as hospital orderlies, guards at industrial plants, firemen and traffic police. The military had to conscript almost everyone eligible in order to fill these posts. An estimated 75 per cent of men of conscription age were called up.¹¹ Non-government sources reported that the cost of paying conscripts was passed to the bodies employing them. However, as these organizations could not pay even their own staff, conscripts were often forced to beg on the streets.¹²

Military training and military schools

Two military schools, in the cities of Mary and Dashoguz, enrolled boys who had graduated from the seventh grade of secondary-school, aged about 13. Students wore military uniforms and lived in military-style barracks. Only ethnic Turkmen were admitted. In 2004 the Dashoguz school had about 660 students. There was strong competition for entry to these schools, with substantial bribes reportedly being paid for admission. Graduates of military schools could enter the Military Institute without work experience.¹³

There was a Military Institute to train officers and specialists in Ashgabat.¹⁴ A new Military Academy also opened in 2007 to train young officers for border services.¹⁵

Developments:

International standards

Turkmenistan acceded to the Optional Protocol in April 2005. Its declaration on accession stated that male citizens aged 18-30 were liable to conscription, and that they could volunteer at the age of 17.¹⁶ In May 2006 the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child considered Turkmenistan's initial report on its implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.¹⁷

1 "Security reform just for show", News Briefing Central Asia, IWPR, 13 March 2007.

2 See Initial report of Turkmenistan to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, UN Doc. CRC/C/TKM/1, 5 December 2005.

3 International League for Human Rights and Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights, Alternative Report on Compliance by the Republic of Turkmenistan with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 24 May 2006, www.eurasianet.org/turkmenistan.project.

4 "Dumbing down Turkmenistan", Reporting Central Asia No. 294, IWPR, 18 June 2004.

5 Correspondence from confidential source, 6 March 2007.

6 "Turkmenistan: President pushes ahead with education and agricultural reform", IRIN, 4 April 2007, www.irinnews.org.

7 "Education set for overhaul", IWPR, 6 February 2007.

8 "Turkmenistan announces regular military call-up", Turkmenistan.ru, 17 September 2007, www.turkmenistan.ru.

9 "Abuse rife in the military", IWPR/Turkmen Radio, 1 June 2006, www.iwpr.net.

10 "There has been a meeting of the cabinet of ministers of Turkmenistan", Gündogar, 20 March 2007, www.gundogar.org.

11 "Turkmen army unfit for service", IWPR/Turkmen Radio, 13 October 2006.

12 Turkmen initiative for human rights, "The Turkmen Army", 25 April 2006, www.eurasianet.org/turkmenistan.project.

13 Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights, "Military schools", 6 December 2004.

14 Oleg Sidorov, "The armed forces of Turkmenistan – a decisive force?", Gazeta.kz, 27 December 2006, www.gazeta.kz.

15 "Sitting of the cabinet of ministers of Turkmenistan", State News Agency of Turkmenistan (TDH), 12 August 2007, www.turkmenistan.gov.tm.

16 Declaration on accession to the Optional Protocol, www2.ohchr.org.

17 Committee on the Rights of the Child, Consideration of report submitted by Turkmenistan, Summary record, UN Doc. CRC/C/SR.1143, 7 June 2006.