The right to freely leave one’s country and return to one’s country is an essential component of a fundamental human right stipulated in international agreements, the right to freedom of movement. However, this right has never been a legal imperative for the Turkmen authorities.  Instead, the absence of constitutional guarantees of this fundamental right and numerous legal gaps in a number of laws has created the grounds for arbitrary and often politically motivated bans on leaving the country and has provided the authorities with an infallible instrument of repression or threat of repression throughout the history of independent Turkmenistan.

Read our full report on violations of the right to freedom of movement in Turkmenistan here.