A new phone line for victims of domestic abuse in Turkmenistan, although commentators say the government should be doing a lot more to address the problem. The hotline began operating in mid-September, with the support of the OSCE mission in the capital Ashgabat. “Violence is commonplace in Turkmen families,” said an observer in Ashgabat. “There is widespread beating of wives, coercive sex, and slave labour where men make women work at home, for example to make carpets to sell and support the family.”
