Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has made representations to his counterpart in Turkmenistan on the ban on female drivers in that country; and if he will make a statement.

​The law in Turkmenistan does not prohibit women from driving. There have however been reports that women drivers are harassed, and allegations that it is difficult for women to obtain driving licences. Although it is difficult to verify these reports, our Embassy raised the issue with the Turkmen authorities in early July as part of a continuing dialogue on human rights. More widely, gender equality is a central theme of our work in Turkmenistan. The UK supports projects in Turkmenistan promoting the rights and empowerment of women, particularly in rural areas. We raise the rights of women in Turkmenistan through the EU also, including most recently at the EU-Turkmenistan Human Rights Dialogue in Brussels on 21 June.