We had an entire three months of being happy earlier than someone got here in and messed it all up. “At final 12 months’s UN General Assembly, the President of Turkmenistan said gender equality was a precedence for his country. Implementing the NAP is essential to strengthen gender equality,” said Ms. Jacinta Barrins, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP/ UNFPA Representative.
The Turkmen government makes no mention of domestic violence in its combined preliminary and second periodic report. Neither the Constitution of Turkmenistan nor the Turkmen Criminal Code instantly addresses domestic violence. Although Article 163 of the Criminal Code now criminalizes polygamy, the government has made no effort to enforce the legislation or condemn the practice in any meaningful way. These forms of conditions may end up in extra women turning into trapped in marriages that they didn’t select and confined to their properties, dependent upon male relations for financial support. This is of great specific concern given Turkmenistan’s low age of consent for marriage (16 years).
In 2003, a presidential decree mandated that every one international nationals wishing to marry Turkmen women pay a (US) $50,000 fee to the Turkmen authorities. The authorities report does not point out whether or not this applies to all folks convicted of crimes or only to individuals in sure classes, so it’s unclear whether or not perpetrators of violence against women are granted amnesty. If this is the case, it might be an extra disincentive to women to look to the courts for remedies for violence. Several of the interviewees mentioned that individuals in Turkmenistan usually view the judicial system with distrust as a result of bribery often determines the result of a case.
A bookish younger man in glasses at the table next to me strikes up a dialog in English, and I ask him, delicately, about the nature of the relationship between the clientele and the women working right here. This job-stealing declare seems curious, provided that I’ve seen precisely zero ethnic Russians in the affluent capital, and that all of the authorities ministers pictured on varied walls and buildings seem like Turkmen men. He additionally utterly rebuilt Ashgabat, which had as soon as been a typical Soviet metropolis, and is now a mix secure house for marble and shrine to Niyazov and his successor, Gurbangaly Berdimuhamedow.
We typically discover ourselves complaining concerning the authorities and the problems that we have to face because of their lack of ability to make good ones. Every at times we wake up to some dictator passing laws so blatantly ridiculous that we need to take a step again scent the roses and thank god for democracy. Take for example Turkmenistan, whose residents woke up to discover their vehicles lacking. Turkmenistan acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1993, which sets a minimal age of marriage of 18, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1997, which obligates states to make sure free and full consent to marriage.
They do not cowl their faces and bodies, or have the same religious practices as different Muslim nations. It is unsurprising that Western media would criticise the dearth of gender equality in Turkmenistan. Seeing as the government has absolute management over the media and broadcasting in the country and is famously isolated from external influences. The president of Turkmenistan has begun imposing a new ban prohibiting women from driving vehicles, weeks after instituting a rule that barred black automobiles from driving within the nation’s capital because he prefers white automobiles.
As one interviewee explained, a rape sufferer, significantly if she comes from a conventional household, may not inform anybody in regards to the rape because doing so could ruin her chances for marriage or trigger her household to ostracize her. The identical supply advised of an acquaintance who dedicated suicide after her uncle raped her as a result of she had nowhere to turn. Other interviewees stated that rape victims are often blamed for not appearing or dressing modestly sufficient. An further disincentive to report domestic violence is the dearth of applications to tell women of their rights, offer them safety or shelter, assist them in court docket, or help them cope with trauma.
Marble buildings proliferate throughout town, which currently holds the Guinness report for “highest density of white marble-clad buildings.” These are not elegant marble buildings. They are marble buildings for the sake of being marble buildings, with design plans that seem like they had been lifted from Google images. In between the marble buildings, you’ll find gold statues of the country’s two presidents, or gold statues of Niyazov’s memoir, or gold statues of indiscernible subjects that may as nicely be the president.
Approved by Presidential decree in January 2015, Turkmenistan’s first National Action Plan on Gender Equality seeks to fight gender-primarily based violence and end discrimination against women. Hosted by Turkmenistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs with assist from UN Women and other UN businesses, assembly reviews timeline and specifics necessary to implement nation’s National Action Plan on Gender Equality. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination towards Women right now considered the fifth periodic report of Turkmenistan on its implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. One evening, I find yourself in a lively restaurant filled with Turkish expats, who apparently make up a great portion of the labor force in Turkmenistan. (The two countries share comparable languages and cultures, and their governments sporadically push for closer ties.) I’m the one woman in the room, excluding the waitresses, who’re all wearing totally clear shirts.
The older generation tends to be less non secular and freely eat alcohol, eat pork and costume in less ‘traditional’ Turkmen apparel. For example, women dwelling within the capital Ashgabat, or in cosmopolitan areas take pleasure in more freedom, whereas women in villages near Turkmenistan’s borders with Afghanistan and Iran. Women in these areas are more inclined to put on veils, and may abstain from consuming alcohol. While the roles of girls in Turkmenistan are conformed primarily to family duties and are not seen actors in political affairs outside of the home, Turkmen women hardly ever wear veils or apply strict seclusion.
In addition to the lack of independence and objectivity that works in opposition to women, this system is more likely to deliver results for many who pays—men. The authorities report maintains that girls are treated equally beneath the regulation and have equal entry to the judicial system, however it does not present any detailed information to illustrate those assertions.
When Saudi Arabia announced in September that ladies would gain the proper to drive in June of 2018, women around the world celebrated. Saudi Arabia was the one country on earth that outlawed female drivers, and the proclamation meant that each one women had the authorized proper to get behind the wheel, at least theoretically.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Central Asia Report, May 1, 2003, “Turkmenistan Gives its Dual Citizens Two Months to Choose,” obtainable at /centralasia/2003/05/ .asp. Pervasive corruption and the absence of the rule of legislation militate towards dealing successfully with violence in opposition to women. All of the women interviewed for this report knew women who have been abused by their husbands or boyfriends. Few of them, nonetheless click here for more info, recounted situations where women sought help from the police or prosecutions from the state. As they explained, this was due to a typical understanding that bribes and political standing play a major role in implementing the law.
It doesn’t provide examples of the forms of instances for which women entry the judicial system, the means by which they access it, or the remedies they get hold of. There are not any statistics regarding the nature of cases introduced in various courts, so it’s inconceivable to understand how issues of concern to women, such as violence in opposition to women, are treated by the judicial system in practice.
Psychological counseling is mostly thought-about to be only for “abnormal” folks, and such services usually are not typically available outdoors of the capital. None of the individuals interviewed for this report had ever heard of any shelters for victims of domestic violence or organizations dedicated to preventing violence towards women or assisting its victims. In some cases, significantly in rural areas, mother and father even instruct their sons to abuse their new wives (who usually reside with their in-legal guidelines) to be able to make them more docile. Some mothers-in-legislation even justify abuse as necessary as a result of they, too, needed to endure it after they have been new brides. This creates a vicious cycle that takes an infinite bodily and psychological toll on women, and there are not any public education campaigns to intervene.
