filia.die frauenstiftung

In mid-January we received an urgent enquiry from a women's organisation in Turkmenistan (we regret that it must remain anonymous*) working in the area of promoting civil society and strengthening women's rights.
The Head of State Nyazov, who died in 2006, caused many housing districts to be demolished in order to push through hotel construction and road building. At the time the some 1000 ejected impoverished families were promised in writing that they would receive substitute accommodation. However, in many cases this did not happen. The new President Berdymukhamedov did not feel bound by the arrangements of his predecessor and changed the promise into "housing - if available", thus creating a legal vacuum governed by arbitrariness. Women ejected from these areas were moreover denied the registration (propiska) embodied in the country’s basic law which is a prerequisite for being able to participate in the state school and health systems and draw on police and other emergency assistance.
After 12 of the women affected had lodged an unsuccessful complaint against this procedure before the City Court, the women's organisation helped arrange a meeting with the (female) head of the Turkmen Parliament, Akdja Nurberdyeva. She recognised this gross infringement against the law and advised invoking the Supreme Court. The women followed this advice and with the aid of filia's funds were able to hire three lawyers.
Our project partner reports from the hearing on 20 February 2008: "We spent the first day of the hearing in the stuffy court room, but I can say that we really enjoyed it. The best that the guys from the City Council could come up with was to apply the old Soviet tactics – trying to intimidate our women with the threat that if we did not withdraw our action nobody would get any new housing. Luckily the judge silenced them straight away and gave our lawyers the word! The Council representatives were not prepared for our attack. They thought they could treat our women like cattle."
The next day she emailed us: "We did it! We have just got back. The judge supported the claims of our women in full! Now we are starting our campaign so that the others who were forced out of their homes learn what they can do to get new housing." At 20 meetings in five towns and cities women were informed about this precedent case. The organisation supported two further court actions brought by ejected persons.
This initiative is a great chance, a window of opportunity to make women visible and strengthen them as actors in social processes. "Women from Muslim societies are normally quiet and difficult to arouse. Our victory before the Supreme Court showed them that they have the strength to achieve their goals", writes our project partner. The actions of this group are integrated into a long-term strategic concept. Women are driving an initiative here that in the final analysis will benefit the entire population and challenge a system of arbitrariness via democratic means. How this has strengthened the role of women in such a society – on many levels at once!

*The women's group supporting the protests of the displaced families has to remain anonymous because activists in this region are arrested and subjected to threats. Reports of their activities published abroad and mentioning their names can endanger them. The organisation made several attempts to obtain official registration as an NGO with the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry advised it to go under the umbrella of a state-recognised women's organisation. This would lead to it losing its independence and having to pay out funds to the umbrella NGO. That is why filia promoted the project in cooperation with Mama Cash.

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