Turkmenistan Justice - The Times Of Central Asia

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Women and Girls in Central Asia in Need of Protection from Violence

Central Asian Countries are seeing a new wave of violence against women and girls, and the fight against their long-standing powerlessness is just beginning. In 2023, the Women, Peace and Security Index (WPS Index), published by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security and the PRIO Centre on Gender, Peace and Security, found Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan the most dangerous countries in Central Asia for women. Things were deemed slightly better in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. The challenges faced by women in the region result from a combination of factors: the low number of women in government and law enforcement, women’s lack of financial independence, especially in rural areas, a distorted understanding of traditions across populations, and a mentality in society that often denies or covers up flagrant cases of injustice. The law is written in blood: the case of Kazakhstan According to WPS experts, Kazakhstan has progressed further than its neighbors toward equality. Still, according to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, 69 women and seven children died in 2023 in domestic conflicts alone. It is believed that, on average, at least 80 women die every year at the hands of those they live with; every day, the police receive hundreds of calls, while thousands of women need the help of specialized protection and support centers. According to the Prosecutor General, last year 150 women sustained severe injuries and 200 moderate injuries in marital conflicts, with another 4,000 suffering minor bruises. This year, however, marked a turning point for Kazakhstani society – more and more women are recording videos with marks from beatings, posting the videos on social media, and calling on the police to punish their abusers. Even high-profile domestic abusers can now be exposed. The trigger for these changes was the trial of former Nazarbayev-era Minister of the National Economy, Kuandyk Bishimbayev, who beat his wife, Saltanat Nukenova, to death last November. Following a live-streamed trial, this May, Bishimbayev was sentenced to 24 years in prison for her murder. Even during the Bishimbayev trial, Karina Mamash, the wife of a Kazakh diplomat in the UAE, went public with allegations about systematic abuse, calling on the state to help. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs urgently recalled her husband, Embassy Counselor Saken Mamash, who may be fired. Karina is now at home with her children while a criminal case has been opened against her husband. She has since reported threats from her husband's relatives. Also in May, Akmaral Umbetkalieva, a resident of Atyrau, alleged that her ex-husband, Rinat Ibragimov – the akim (mayor) of Makat District in Atyrau Region – had beaten her for eleven years and taken away their children. Ibragimov called the allegations slander. The month before, former Taldykorgan police chief, Marat Kushtybaev was sentenced to eleven years for raping a girl in his office in November 2023. Another headline from April was that a security guard at an Almaty bar who had been convicted of raping a girl at knifepoint would serve eight years in prison. The...

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Reporter in Turkmenistan Freed After Four Years in Jail

Authorities in Turkmenistan have released a freelance reporter who was jailed for several years on a fraud conviction that media groups alleged was retaliation for his journalism. Nurgeldi Halykov, who has worked for the Turkmen.news website, was arrested in Ashgabat on July 13, 2020 and freed on Saturday, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Monday. Halykov was detained the day after the Netherlands-based website published a photo that it received from him in which a World Health Organization delegation is seen at a local hotel during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the committee. Turkmenistan strictly controls the media, making it hard to get information about what is going on in the Central Asian country. The government there did not report a single case of COVID-19, though there are widespread doubts about the government’s transparency regarding the impact of a virus that has killed millions of people worldwide. The photo of the WHO representatives was taken by an Ashgabat resident who saw them sitting by the pool of the Ashgabat Yildiz Hotel, Turkmen.news said. The resident posted the photo on Instagram and Halykov, “who had previously studied with this girl in the same school, saw it. He thought it necessary to send the photo to the editorial office of Turkmen.news,” the website reported. “The girl was identified from CCTV cameras. She and six of her friends, relaxing by the hotel pool, were called to the police. The police looked through all her photographs, including personal ones, restored previously deleted photographs, and reread all her correspondence with other people. Then they began to study contacts in the address book and her friends on Instagram,” the news outlet said. Halykov was detained and sentenced in September 2020 after being convicted of failing to repay a loan, according to Turkmen.news. It said a former close friend made the complaint about a $5,000 debt that Halykov allegedly owed. The Committee to Protect Journalists said it was glad that Halykov had been released and it urged the Turkmen authorities “to improve the country’s international reputation by liberalizing the media environment so that independent reporters do not have to work clandestinely or under fear of arrest.” Turkmenistan’s state news agency did not mention Halykov’s release in its report on Monday. The main news was the visit to Ashgabat of South Korean President, Yun Suk Yeol, and his talks on trade and other issues with Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov. Other prominent articles talked about the start of the grain harvest and the Turkmen president’s recent participation in a mass bicycle excursion in Ashgabat.

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Turkmenistan Restricts Women From Obtaining Driving Licenses

It is becoming more and more difficult for women to drive in Turkmenistan, with requirements for obtaining a driver's license often oppressively strict. Turkmenistan has restricted women's rights for many years, including their freedom to drive a car. In 2017 Turkmen police began revoking women's driving licenses and refusing to issue them with new ones. From the beginning of 2023 women had to be over the age of 41 to learn to drive, and even then driving schools would only accept them if they provided marriage certificates and character references. It is reported that in the country's Mary region it is now almost impossible for women to drive a car. Women who already have a license can only renew it when it expires if they have a vehicle registered in their name. “Often, the cars driven by women are not registered in their name, and they use vehicles registered in the name of their brothers or husbands by power of attorney. Now they have to transfer the cars to their name or buy a new car to get a driver's license; otherwise, they will not be issued a new document,” Radio Azatlyk wrote. According to local sources, police officers are refusing to issue licenses to women under the age of 35. One resident added: “You also need a medical certificate from a psychiatric dispensary to renew your license. They are obtained in local medical institutions. The cost of renewing a driver's license will cost 200 to 400 manats ($57-$114). Mary residents said using a bribe is the easiest way to solve the problem. “Men can get a driver's license by paying a bribe of 4,000 manat ($1141), while a woman will have to pay 6,000 to 7,000 manat ($1712 to $1997),” the resident said. Turkmen officials deny any discrimination against women, and maintain that gender equality is fully respected in the country.

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UNDP and British Embassy to Help Increase the Capacity of Turkmenistan’s Boards of Lawyers

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the British Embassy in Turkmenistan have signed a Contribution Agreement in support of “Increasing the Capacity of the Boards of Lawyers in Turkmenistan.” The initiative to be implemented jointly by the UNDP and Boards of Lawyers in Turkmenistan, aims to enhance the latter’s capacity to provide legal aid in accordance with international standards including: UN Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems, Basic Principles Concerning the Role of Lawyers, and Standards of Independence of the Legal Community adopted by the International Bar Association. The project will also assist the Boards of Lawyers in the establishment of a National Chamber of Lawyers in Turkmenistan. The new body will represent and safeguard the interests of lawyers, coordinate the Boards of Lawyers’ activities in Ashgabat and across the country’s regions, ensure high-quality legal assistance, and address issues which impact the legal community's interests. UNDP will also assist in digitizing the Boards of Lawyers' operations in Turkmenistan.

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President of Turkmenistan Pardons 356 Prisoners

President of Turkmenistan, Serdar Berdymukhamedov has pardoned 356 people who repented for their crimes in honor of Laylat al-Qadr (The Night of Power). The head of state signed the relevant decision at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, according to a report by the Turkmen state news agency. Representatives of the relevant law-enforcement agencies were instructed to release the prisoners and return them to their families in the near future. Furthermore, provincial, etrap (sub-provincial) and city mayors and other leaders were instructed to take appropriate measures to employ pardoned persons. On April 5-6, Muslims in Turkmenistan celebrate the night of power (gadyr gijesi in Turkmen), a symbol of virtue and spiritual purity. Laylat al-Qadr is, in Islamic belief, the night when Muslims believe the Quran was first sent down from heaven to the world, and also the night when the first verses of the Quran were revealed to the Islamic prophet, Muhammad.

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Children in the Fields, Not at Their Desks: Turkmenistan Continues to Use Child Labor in Cotton Harvest

Turkmenistan continues to use forced labor of adults and children during the cotton harvest, according to experts from the Committee on the Application of Standards of the International Labor Organization (ILO). "The preliminary findings of this observation mission indicate direct or indirect evidence of mobilization of public servants in all regions visited, with the exception of the city of Ashgabat," the report by the committee states. Another report by independent Turkmen human rights groups published last year documented widespread systematic forced labor in Turkmenistan - alongside widespread corruption. Under its ILO commitments, Turkmenistan has pledged for years to eradicate this practice, but the reality is different. The Business and Human Rights Resource Center notes that the Turkmen Government obliges farmers to submit a certain quota of cotton each year. Failure to meet these quotas can result in the land being taken away from the dekhkans (smallholder farmers) and given to others, or the issuance of a fine. At the same time, the government maintains a monopoly on the purchase and sale of cotton, sets an artificially low purchase price, and does not disclose information about either the income from cotton or the use of that income. Employees of government organizations are systematically forced to harvest cotton. They are not provided with proper working or living conditions, and are often forced to find housing and food at their own expense. In addition, they face such problems as unfavorable weather conditions - cotton harvesting starts in the summer heat and continues well into winter's sub-zero temperatures - contact with chemicals used to treat the fields, and travel costs. Despite this, human rights advocates haven't received any complaints about the authorities' misconduct. This is likely due to the fact that workers are afraid of losing their jobs in the public sector, where the majority of Turkmenistan's population is employed. Despite local laws prohibiting the use of child labor - and a ban on the use of child labor in the cotton sector has been in place since 2008 - the practice is widespread during the cotton harvest. The Cotton Campaign, an international coalition of labor groups, human rights organizations, investors and business organizations, has repeatedly spoken out against this practice. Schoolchildren in Turkmenistan often go to the cotton fields themselves to earn money for clothing and food, as well as to help their parents, who are obliged to pick cotton. Turkmenistan is the tenth largest cotton producer in the world and has a vertically integrated cotton industry. Despite the boycott of cotton picked using forced labor, the U.S., Canada and EU countries cannot always control the supply chain of cotton from third countries. Thus, Turkmen cotton harvested by forced and child labor filters into global cotton supply chains at all stages of production. The Cotton Campaign has called on governments, companies and workers' organizations to take action and pressure Turkmenistan to end forced labor and protect the basic rights of its citizens. Uzbekistan is a successful case study in the effort to eliminate...