clockwise around the Caspian Sea
- World Report 2024: Turkmenistan (hrw.org)
Turkmenistan made no improvements to its dire human rights record in 2023. The country remains closed to international scrutiny. Authorities continue to suppress fundamental rights and freedoms, including freedoms of religion, movement, expression, and association. Recent political reforms have only deepened authoritarian rule. The government does not acknowledge poverty and has failed to take measures to address continued food insecurity.
- World Report 2024: Singapore (hrw.org)
Singapore’s criminal justice system fell under the international spotlight as the authorities carried out the highest number of executions for drug-related offenses in over a decade, including the first woman put to death in almost 20 years. The government harassed, intimidated, and persecuted civil society activists and independent media practitioners in the lead-up to presidential elections in September, which saw the election of Tharman Shanmugaratnam, a former deputy prime minister and finance minister, to the largely ceremonial post.
- Turkmenistan (Wikipedia)
Turkmenistan is a country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ashgabat is the capital and largest city. It is one of the six independent Turkic states. With a population of 6.5 million, Turkmenistan is the 35th most-populous country in Asia and has the lowest population of the Central Asian republics while being one of the most sparsely populated nations on the Asian continent.
