UNICEF and Child Protection in Turkmenistan: When Will Statements Turn Into Real Assistance?

UNICEF and Child Protection in Turkmenistan: When Will Statements Turn Into Real Assistance? Representatives of UNICEF and Turkmenistan’s state authorities have held a consultation in Ashgabat as part of the country’s preparations for the Second Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children, scheduled to take place in Manila on 18–19 November 2026. National commitments, programmes and priorities for protecting children are being discussed. But against the reality on the ground, one fundamental question arises: who exactly is this system protecting? For the past year, the Human Rights Platform of the Civil Movement “Dayanch” has repeatedly contacted UNICEF in Turkmenistan regarding violations of children’s rights and specific cases of violence. Not a single one of our Platform’s appeals has received a response. Moreover, the email address listed on UNICEF Turkmenistan’s Facebook page as a contact address proved to be non-functional. We have also encountered situations in which victims of violence were told that UNICEF could not provide them with direct assistance and were effectively referred back to the very state institutions whose inaction they had complained about. This raises a direct question: what is the point of discussing the elimination of violence against children at international conferences if an individual child inside Turkmenistan cannot obtain effective protection? It is particularly significant that the national work on child protection and justice for children is coordinated by the Prosecutor General’s Office of Turkmenistan. These state institutions are funded, including through the state budget. Citizens have every right to demand that these funds support a functioning system that genuinely protects children — not merely reports and formal events. UNICEF also has responsibilities within its own mandate: it must not ignore the gap between official statements and the reality faced by individual victims. We address UNICEF in Turkmenistan directly: Why have the appeals of an independent human rights platform remained unanswered for an entire year? Why was a publicly listed communication channel non-functional? How is a child who has suffered violence supposed to obtain protection? And before the Manila Conference, will victims themselves and independent civil society be heard — or will the international community once again be presented only with the official version of events? Child protection is not measured by the number of conferences, working groups or programmes adopted. It is measured by one thing: whether a child receives protection when they ask for help. When will this charade end, and when will real assistance to children finally begin? Human Rights Platform of the Civil Movement “Dayanch” / Turkmenistan 🌐 https://dayanchcivil.com/ ✉️ dayanch.civil@gmail.com Source: https://www.facebook.com/share/1EAtnBtUtg/