UNICEF in Turkmenistan: Meetings Are Taking Place, but Where Is the Protection of Children?

UNICEF in Turkmenistan: Meetings Are Taking Place, but Where Is the Protection of Children? In Turkmenistan, UNICEF international consultant and expert Dessislava Ilieva held a meeting with members of the Mejlis to discuss the implementation of the National Action Plan on the Rights of the Child for 2023–2028, the improvement of legislation, social protection, and support for families. Such meetings regularly create the impression of active work in the field of child protection. Yet behind the official language, one fundamental question remains: where is the real protection of children when their rights are being violated? The Dayanç Human Rights Platform of the Civic Movement has repeatedly tried to draw UNICEF Turkmenistan’s attention to problems affecting children. We have received no response whatsoever to appeals from independent human rights defenders. Moreover, the email address provided by UNICEF on its Facebook page proved to be non-functional when we attempted to submit an appeal. This is happening against the backdrop of reports concerning serious problems, including forced child labour, the compulsory participation of schoolchildren in state-organised and mass events, violence against minors, and the absence of accessible emergency protection mechanisms. Children should not be forced to spend hours participating in events for the sake of an official image. They must not be turned into a crowd or used as a backdrop at state, political, or other meetings and ceremonies. Children are not toys. Children are not decorations. If the state claims to be implementing a National Action Plan on the Rights of the Child, its effectiveness should not be measured by the number of meetings or official events held, but by whether a child can actually receive help when facing violence, coercion, exploitation, or a dangerous situation. Turkmenistan needs functioning hotlines for children and parents, crisis centres and safe shelters, confidential mechanisms for seeking assistance, as well as baby boxes or other safe mechanisms for protecting newborns when a mother is in a crisis situation. We appeal to UNICEF in Turkmenistan and personally to Ms Dessislava Ilieva: please listen not only to representatives of state institutions. Listen to independent human rights defenders, parents, and citizens themselves who report violations of children’s rights. Respond to these appeals and raise these issues directly with the authorities of Turkmenistan. Protecting children is not about holding meetings for reporting purposes. It is about ensuring that a child can receive help here and now. Every child has the right to safety, dignity, education, rest, and protection from all forms of violence, exploitation, and coercion. These rights must work not only on paper, but in real life.