Abstract:

Turkmenistan is one of the world's most closed and authoritarian countries. The government has a poor human rights record, a repressive legal system, and a prison system described as torturous and medieval.

Because it is virtually impossible to obtain information from official sources or repressed independent sources, satellite imagery is emerging as a valuable tool for scientists and civil society to shed light on human rights abuses in the country.

In 2022, US-based NGO Crude Accountability partnered with UK-based start-up Omanos Analytics to conduct a study examining some of the country's secret prisons. Provided with the necessary coordinates to conduct the research, which was gathered from human rights defenders, Omanos Analytics collected and analyzed satellite images of the sites.

Crude Accountability then compared the data with information obtained by our researchers through rare first-hand witness accounts. Using international human rights standards and obligations such as the Geneva Convention as a guide, Crude Accountability reviewed the prison data obtained from Omanos Analytics. The study results were also compared with data Crude Accountability obtained and reported on in 2014 to identify patterns and changes n the information.

The result of this research is a report, which Crude Accountability and colleagues will present at this panel, revealing new information about the closed and repressive prison system in Turkmenistan and providing recommendations to the Turkmen government, international institutions, and civil society on how to improve the human rights situation in the country’s opaque prison system.

The panel will also provide valuable insights into human rights abuses in Turkmenistan's prison system and will contribute to the ongoing effort to improve the situation for those affected. Additionally, the panel will explore the potential for using satellite imagery and witness accounts to conduct human rights-related research and provide a platform for discussion and recommendations for further action and research.

The panel will be relevant for researchers and academics, graduate students and scholars, human rights organizations, government agencies, and anyone interested in human rights and the use of technology to monitor human rights violations.