Turkmenistan - Domestic Abuse Hotline Launched

This Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) News Briefing Central Asia (NBCentralAsia) article reports on a new phone line for victims of domestic abuse in Turkmenistan. The hotline began operating in mid-September 2009, with the support of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) mission in the capital, Ashgabat.

The telephone support service intends to provide not just advice but also moral support to victims of domestic violence. No official statistics on domestic violence are available in Turkmenistan, but local observers say the service is addressing a problem that is widespread and includes beating of wives, coercive sex, and slave labour where men make women work at home, for example making carpets. Patriarchal traditions are said to be the source of gender violence and taboos surrounding gathering data on its frequency. Victims of domestic abuse are reported to feel ashamed to go to the police to complain about assaults committed within families but are calling the helpline to seek advice anonymously.

Women’s rights activists say that there is little public awareness of violence in the home, few psychologists or lawyers specialising in this area, and no systems for rehabilitating the victims. They cite tight restrictions on the non-government sector, making it difficult to set up organisations to combat domestic violence, track the scale of the problem, and offer support to victims.

Reports from activists suggest that they favour "tangible measures", such as legislation to protect victims of domestic violence, a government programme to support the family, and special rehabilitation facilities for victims, constituted as non-governmental organisations (NGOs). As reported here, Turkmenistan was discussed by a working group at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in December of 2008, at which time the group expressed concern at the apparent lack of awareness on violence against women as a problem, and at the failure of Turkmen local legislation to establish mechanisms to prevent domestic violence and assist its victims, considering that Turkmenistan ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women in 1996.