TURKMENISTAN: Reverse student travel ban

Turkmen authorities should immediately revoke a new travel ban imposed on students bound for foreign private universities, Human Rights Watch said last week. Turkmenistan should also end new, burdensome requirements for studying abroad that violate the rights to freedom of movement and to education, said the rights organisation.

"These arbitrary travel restrictions are disturbing new proof of how repressive Turkmenistan's government is," said Maria Lisitsyna, Turkmenistan researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Being able to travel abroad is a pretty basic human right."

Since late July 2009, Turkmen authorities have prevented hundreds of students from boarding planes and crossing land borders to depart for study abroad. The students were enrolled or planning to enrol at universities in Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkey and the United States, among other countries. Authorities told the students that they did not have appropriate documents to leave the country.
Full report on the Common Dreams site