A/HRC/10/29 complaints about law enforcement bodies, and the Inter-ministerial Commission on the national reports. Implementation had started on a joint project with the Embassy of the United Kingdom, the International Centre for Prison Studies and the German Development Programme aimed at improving the penitentiary system. Support for the penitentiary system was foreseen in the programme of projects to be conducted together with OSCEAshkabad in 2009. Within that framework, seminars were planned for prison staff on the 1955 United Nations Minimum Standards, follow-up consultations and the development of learning materials on that issue. 547. Regarding the recommendation to allow access of ICRC representatives to detainees, in conformity with their mandate, Turkmenistan had stepped up its cooperation with all recognized international organizations, including with ICRC. At present, Government representatives were taking part in training sessions and seminars organized by ICRC in the country and abroad. The question of visiting penitentiary facilities was being permanently discussed by representatives of the Government and ICRC. Turkmenistan had proposed a gradual implementation of the ICRC mandate in the country. As a first step, it had been proposed to broadly raise awareness among the staff of the relevant Government bodies about the international rules and the practice and activities of ICRC in this area. 548. On 27 November 2008, the regional representation of ICRC in Central Asia made a presentation on its activities in relation to imprisoned and detained persons. From Turkmenistan, this presentation was attended by representatives from Government bodies in charge of administering and controlling penitentiaries; from the Ministry of the Interior, the general procuracy, the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Justice; and the Institute for Human Rights and Democracy under the President of Turkmenistan. 549. On 7 March 2009, the regional representative of ICRC in Central Asia visited Turkmenistan, during which the proposal on a gradual introduction of the ICRC mandate on prison visits was discussed and taken into account. 550. On the recommendation to defend the human rights of journalists and human rights defenders, to let them peacefully carry out their activities without threat of being detained or imprisoned, the delegation stated that the human rights of journalists and human rights defenders were fully guaranteed and protected by the State’s fundamental law and by existing legislation. According to the new Constitution, citizens had the right to freedom of thought and freedom of expression, as well as to receive information, if this information was not a State secret or otherwise secret information (art. 28). Moreover, the delegation provided information that, inter alia, written press and other public media were free in Turkmenistan. 551. With regard to the recommendation to establish a constitutional court and ombudsman system, Turkmenistan provided information that, inter alia, the UNDAF 2010– 2015 and the EU/OHCHR/UNDP projects included activities aimed at learning about the experience with constitutional courts and constitutional councils in other countries. There were also plans to undertake a monitoring of the human rights system in Turkmenistan, from which relevant proposals would be formulated regarding institutions and legislation. 552. On the recommendation of excluding impunity for torture and other unlawful treatment of prisoners and undertaking independent investigations on such cases, information was provided on the relevant legal provisions, including part 2, article 23 of the Constitution, which stated that no citizen could be subject to torture, cruel or inhuman or humiliating treatment or punishment, nor subject without consent to medical or medicinal experiments (part 2, art. 23). The delegation also stated that more detailed information on this issue would be presented in the national reports of Turkmenistan to the Human Rights Committee and to the Committee against Torture. Further information was also provided on study visits to penitentiary systems, proposals for reforms and plans for identifying 176 GE.09-17451