21 May 2014

The 2014 Turkmenistan Gas Congress, held 20-21 May 2014 in the environmentally unsustainable resort town of Avaza, on the Caspian Sea, not far from oil fields and refineries, has drawn a number of international delegates, including high level EU and US government representatives.

On the eve of the Congress, Malena Mard, of the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan, told journalists that the EU would like to import gas from Turkmenistan, stating that “the EU supports the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline project.”

Taking into consideration the appalling and continued practice of enforced disappearances in Turkmenistan’s prisons, The Prove They are Alive Campaign demands that any legal agreement regarding the construction of the Trans-Caspian Pipeline from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan and connecting onwards to the West should include compliance with international human rights norms for the two countries. Any EU involvement, whether financial or technical, should incorporate the highest environmental and human rights standards in all elements of the project. The absence of these provisions amounts to complicity in gross human rights violations, including the systematic practice of enforced disappearances and torture.

 

 

For media inquiries please contact:

Kate Watters, Executive Director, Crude Accountability
kate@nullcrudeaccountability.org, +1.571.332.5895

Yuri Dzhibladze, President, Centre for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights
Yuri.dzhibladze@nullgmail.com, +7.916.673.5153

Sonia Zilberman, Advocacy, Crude Accountability
Sonia@crudeaccountability@nullgmail.com, +1.202.320.6225