US Trade Restrictions Ineffective Against Turkmenistan

The United States Congress is voting on whether or not to prolong trade restrictions on Turkmenistan, but NBCentralAsia observers say that the measure has little effect and that only wider international sanctions would work.



On July 1, President George Bush notified Congress that it must vote on whether or not to extend the 1974 Jackson-Vanik amendment for a further year in relation to Turkmenistan.



The amendment bans the American government from exporting goods or giving state funds to countries that restrict citizen’s freedom to emigrate.



The amendment also allows the US government to impose an embargo on Turkmenistan and block its entry to the World Trade Organisation, WTO.



The Jackson-Vanik amendment to the US Trade Act still applies to 11 former Soviet states including Russia, Kazakstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.



The US administration has told Congress that it will exert pressure on Ashgabat to allow Turkmen citizens full freedom of movement.



NBCentralAsia economic experts say that there are no areas of US-Turkmen relations in which the Jackson-Vanik amendment would apply, given that Turkmenistan does not import American goods or receive US government funding.



Vyacheslav Mamedov, leader of the Civil Democratic Union of Turkmenistan, who emigrated some years ago, says that it makes no difference whether Congress decides to prolong the Jackson-Vanik amendment or not. The US has “few instruments” that it can use to force the Turkmen authorities to change their migration policy.



The only way pressure could be brought to bear on the country would be a coordinated international campaign led by the US to get it to abide by United Nations resolutions on migration.



An NBCentralAsia observer based in Ashgabat says that it will a long time before emigration rules in Turkmenistan are liberalised. Visa regulations remain stringent, and freedom of movement is still restricted by blacklists of people who are prevented from travelling. These lists contain the names of around 20,000 journalists, dissidents, civil activists and the relatives of émigré “enemies of the people”.



“The current authorities have proved by their actions that sanctions should be imposed on them,” said the observer.



Some people who emigrate are forced to renounce ownership of property in Turkmenistan.



One journalist who has been on the blacklist for eight years has repeatedly asked the courts and the recently-created presidential commission that supervises the law enforcement agencies for permission to go abroad, but he has got nowhere.



This journalist’s only hope is that the international community will take a firmer stand against the authorities and that Washington will ask the UN to review Turkmenistan’s human rights record.



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)