Building on its unique global convening role, its mandate to serve the world’s peoples and its role as a partner and broker, the United Nations is uniquely placed to act as a source of protection and support for young people and a platform through which their needs can be addressed, their voice can be amplified, and their engagement can be advanced. As part of the year-long campaign to mark the 30th anniversary of Turkmenistan’s membership in the United Nations, the UN Country Team led by the UN Resident Coordinator in Turkmenistan organized a series of lectures covering over 1000 students of universities of Turkmenistan within September-November 2022.  The students from the Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, the International University for the Humanities and Development, Turkmen State University named after Magtymguly, Turkmen State Pedagogical Institute named after Seyitnazar Seydi, State Medical University of Turkmenistan named after Myrat Garryev, Turkmen Agricultural Institute in Dashoguz, Turkmen State Power Engineering Institute, Border Institute of Turkmenistan, etc. were informed on the Goals and Targets of the Agenda 2030 and the role of youth in achieving the SDGs. The thematic sessions delivered by UNDP, UNFPA, WHO, UNODC, UNHCR also included climate agenda, digital developments, quality education, COVID-19 and related health programs, gender equality and empowerment of women and girls, reducing statelessness, human trafficking and other. During his meetings with youth, the UN Resident Coordinator encouraged to be active members of society as young people have the energy, knowledge and creativity needed to tackle some of the world’s most pressing problems, he stressed: “When we allow young people to actively participate in a positive and constructive way in the development of their country and society, it builds the confidence of young people”. The United Country Team will continue to engage Turkmen youth across the programs to provide platforms to contribute to the SDGs achievement in Turkmenistan.

Social stigma faced by people with disabilities make them to be seen helpless, incapable of taking care of themselves, being treated differently and as a result excluded from the social life that make them even more vulnerable to the challenges and drawbacks of life. UN and the public organizations of Turkmenistan with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Sport and Youth Policy joined their efforts and hosted the Inclusive Sport Festival "We are strong, we are equal" that also marked the 30th anniversary of Turkmenistan’s membership to the United Nations. The public organizations included Central Physical and Sports Club of the Disabled of Turkmenistan, Center for Support of the Disabled, Chess Center for the Blind, Society of the Blind and Deaf of Turkmenistan, Agama, Yenme, Recovery and Rehabilitation center. The event aiming to engage and empower people with disabilities promoted sport activities to be inclusive for everyone so that “no one is left behind." When sport includes persons with disabilities, it becomes transformative not just for the participants, but also for families, coaches and spectators. “Inclusion only becomes inclusion when persons with disabilities are not just present but engaged in meaningful ways. Persons with disabilities need to be a part of all inclusion initiatives in and through sport”, stressed Dmitry Shlapachenko, UN Resident Coordinator in Turkmenistan at the opening ceremony of the Inclusive Sport Festival. Over 150 people with disabilities and members of vulnerable families demonstrated their sport skills through playing football by blind, basketball and volleyball in wheelchairs, table tennis by disabled persons with a musculoskeletal disorder, chess by blind, adaptive alpinism, races and many more. “Often people with disabilities are excluded from social life. This Sport Festival gives them a chance to demonstrate that they are equal and strong along with the other people, it makes them to be visible and socially integrated.” - said Gulya Chorekliyeva, the head of the public organization Yenme. The Inclusive Sport Festival took place in Ashgabat Olympic Village and brought together the representatives of the UN missions, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Sport and Youth, Diplomatic missions in Turkmenistan, public organizations, private sector, young SDG Ambassadors, volunteers, and the people of Ashgabat. “Talking about sports, I would like to focus your attention on bodybuilding, which I am interested in. I began to practice bodybuilding in 2007 when my friends encouraged me to go to the gym with them. I was really excited about it and began to practice it. As time passed, I really liked and enjoyed it. Bodybuilding is now my hobby. It helps me to maintain a healthy and active life-style. It gives me energy and a power, which in turn helps me to develop the skills of confidence and self-esteem, break general stereotypes of people with disabilities and show people that we are strong and ambitious individuals of our community, with full potential to make the world inclusive and a better place to live”- said Elchin, the young sportsman. The event included sports activities such as goal ball, football, basketball, volleyball, table tennis, chess, rock climbing and fun games. Everyone was invited to try the adaptive sports. The guests also enjoyed the music performances of deaf and blind people who demonstrated their singing and dancing skills.  “As a child I was very active, always striving to do as much movement as my peers did, running, playing and doing all kinds of activities. When I was a teenager, I became a volunteer taking part in various active sport events. From then on, nothing changed. I still love to be active and I find it very hard to stay in one place and lead a daily passive routine. As a girl with disability, swimming helps me to stay healthy, active and support my well-being. It helps me to relieve back pains that prevents me from moving easily. Moreover, I do regular exercises to keep my body fit and strong.” – said Aynura Hasanova, a swimmer. “Sport is my life. I like and practice both swimming and chess. Sport gives me a power to lead a healthy life-style, achieve my goals and priorities and overcome hardships I face in my life. I do sports because I have a great desire to become a paralympic champion so I will be proud of myself and so that people know that people with disabilities are not weak and helpless people as it is commonly perceived, but we are strong and equal.” – said Atayev Kakabay, a swimmer and a chess player. When we design sport for inclusion we begin to recognize and realize the full potential of sport for all. It is important to note that when we design environments for persons with disabilities, we are often designing for everyone. The framework of sport for inclusion, and not sport for exclusion, is critical to the future of sport, the sustainable development and achieving inclusive society. The power of sport for inclusive environments works to create the vision of a better world for everyone.   Striving to assist the country in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals the United Nations Country Team in Turkmenistan supports the monitoring and implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and other international human rights instruments, as well as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Recently released “Jakarta Declaration on the Asian and Pacific Decade of Persons with Disabilities, 2023-2032” creates a momentum to continue and accelerate a whole-of-society action to promote and protect the rights of persons with disabilities.  

Emergency preparedness is the key to efficient and effective emergency response, but too often, it remains an afterthought – out of sight and out of mind, until an emergency strikes. Not for representatives of the Government of Turkmenistan however who, on 31 August, participated in an online session convened by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, on emergency response in accordance with international standards in case of mass arrival of refugees. The two-hour session sought to impart the internationally defined standards for emergency response, familiarise participants with the Refugee Coordination Model, as well as to introduce risk assessment and mitigation in such situations. Sessions included the legal framework and key principles of international protection of refugees, access to territory during refugee influx, and emergency response standards. The capacity strengthening exercise was part of the annual Joint Workplan for 2022 between the Government of Turkmenistan and UNHCR. With the rapidly changing and increasing complexity of humanitarian emergencies around the world, supporting States and civil society to effectively prepare – and respond – is a priority for UNHCR in Central Asia. The session was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Labour, the State Migration Service, as well as representatives of local executive bodies and other State officials who would be involved in the event of a mass influx of refugees. “We appreciate the strong commitment of the Government of Turkmenistan to continuously improve its emergency preparedness by training staff, updating and developing new emergency management tools and standby mechanisms, as well as establishing close cooperation with international organizations and partners, including UNHCR,” said Hanifa Karimi, UNHCR Protection Officer in her opening remarks. As a country neighbouring Afghanistan, Turkmenistan is part of the 2022 Afghanistan Situation Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRP) alongside Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Uzbekistan. The RRP seeks to support host governments to meet the needs of Afghans of varying statuses, including refugees, asylum-seekers and undocumented people, as well as host communities, and potential new arrivals. Even though there has been no mass influx of new arrivals from Afghanistan into the country, together with the Government of Turkmenistan, UNHCR and RRP partners in Turkmenistan – UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and UN Population Fund (UNFPA) – are focusing on emergency preparedness activities while advocating for safe and unhindered access to territory, and prevention of non-refoulment. Turkmenistan is a State party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 protocol. It is also the only Central Asian country that has acceded to the 1954 and 1961 Statelessness Conventions. UNHCR is a non-resident agency in Turkmenistan with operations implemented by partners and overseen by the UNHCR Representation to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan based in Almaty.

The International Organization for Migration in Turkmenistan (IOM) in partnership with the Eurasia Foundation (EF) organizes a two-day Youth Leadership Camp dedicated to the International Youth Day, under the motto "From Youth - for Youth", in the national tourist zone "Avaza" in Turkmenbashi. The Youth Leadership Camp is an event under the “Strengthening Youth Capacity through Community Participation” project implemented by the International Organization for Migration and the Social Innovations in Central Asia (SICA) program, a five-year program funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). 40 young leaders, as well as experts, representatives of science, government, attend this event and public organizations to exchange experience and opinions, discuss topical issues. Moreover, the camp contributes to the creation of a platform for unity, gives the participants the opportunity to meet and communicate with their peers from all over the country, develop useful connections (networking), gain new knowledge and skills, discuss and plan possible joint projects/events in the future. The camp program consists of educational and team-building activities, including sports competitions, outdoor games, presentations of success stories, hackathon, debates, master classes and thematic lectures, the topics of which were chosen based on the interests of the young camp participants. The leadership skills of the participants were clearly manifested during the hackathon, when four teams chose priority tasks and proposed original ways to solve them. The competition was won by two teams who proposed to introduce a mobile application for using public transport for visually impaired people and to conduct an educational campaign to reduce the irrational use of drinking water. Nino Nadiradze, Director of the US Agency for International Development in Turkmenistan, opening the event, noted that, “giving youth the opportunity to develop and grow is one of the priorities of the US Agency for International Development, and therefore we are pleased to support youth events that bring together young leaders from different corners of the country. And I hope that young people will take the opportunity to take the initiative, exchange ideas and experiences, as well as gain new skills and knowledge that they can further use for the benefit of the social and economic development of the country.” In the greeting speech of the representative of the office of the International Organization for Migration in Turkmenistan, Gulshirin Annadurdyeva, it was emphasized that “youth plays an important role in the life of society in every state. The harmonious development of young people, their full participation in the life of society and the state are the key to the prosperity and development of the country. Investing in health and education creates and education creates the conditions for the further comprehensive development of young people.” Merdanmuhammet Kasymov, representative of the Ministry of Sports and Youth Policy of Turkmenistan, noted that “the state program, which is being implemented in the periods from 2021-2025. bears fruit in the form of high sports awards for our young athletes at various international competitions and motivates young people to new achievements.” “Young people in Turkmenistan stand out for their creative and innovative ideas on how to make a meaningful contribution to their communities. And this youth camp, which provides a unique opportunity to network with like-minded talented young people from all over the country, gives young people an idea of ​​​​future joint actions,” commented Leyli Yakshieva, a camp participant. “The Youth Leadership Camp embodies a phenomenon that contributes to the future of our country and its development today,” said Farukh Khodjakulyev, speaker and young leader. Shabibi Osmanova commented on the camp as follows: “Very intense, active, and overall fun, positive and rewarding event. Here I learned many interesting things and I am very impressed by the friendly atmosphere. I especially enjoyed the Emotional Intelligence session because it is very important for visually impaired people to evaluate and monitor their emotions.” Two days, according to the participants, were an impulse for creativity, self-expression and realization of potential. The bright event of this summer will be remembered, and new knowledge and established business connections will be useful in their work, study and future social activities.