Violence against women with disabilities in Central Asia
The problem of violence against women with disabilities in Central Asia
09.12.2025
Article published on the rus.azattyq.org website
A teenage girl with developmental disorders was raped by her two brothers for many years. A woman who uses a wheelchair was constantly harassed by a taxi driver during a journey. Two patients with mental illnesses were repeatedly raped for months by orderlies at a mental health centre. And a girl with cerebral palsy, who became pregnant by her boyfriend and dreamed of being a mother, was forced by her parents to have an abortion. These are real stories from Central Asia, a region where sexual violence against women with disabilities remains one of the most hidden and invisible of issues.
Human rights activists say that it is almost impossible to assess the real scale of the problem. This is not only due to the lack of official statistics, but also because most victims don’t ask for help. The reasons for this include physical inaccessibility to Government buildings, distrust of the justice system, fear of publicity, and constant stereotyping about the “incapacity” of women with disabilities.
On 8 December, Equality Now, an international human rights organisation that works to protect and promote the rights of women and girls around the world, released a report entitled Seeking Justice: The Criminal Justice System and Women with Disabilities in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, which examines in detail why such cases rarely reach the courts and what systemic barriers stand in the way of the victim – from the police station to the courtroom.
Nurzhamal Iminova from the Shyrak Association of Women with Disabilities (Almaty) says that disabled women in Kazakhstan often face sexual harassment. “For example, an invataxi (a taxi that helps disabled people get around) arrives and when the driver helps a female wheelchair user out of the cab, he appears to accidentally brush against her thigh or breast. He may even have made sexist jokes in the taxi. Thus, sexual harassment becomes the norm. And who is held accountable for this? No-one”, says Iminova.
Official statistics do not include separate data on victims with disabilities – if such figures were available, they would reveal just how widespread the problem is, says Nurzhamal. As an example, she cites Kyrgyzstan where this year a separate question was added to a victims’ questionnaire. “They don’t yet have a breakdown on the types of violence committed, but a least there is now a box that can be ticked for this. We don’t even have that”, she says.
Daryana Gryaznova, Legal Advisor at Equality Now and co-author of the report, said that the study showed that cases that involve disabled women in the three Central Asian countries truly remain “invisible”.
“Official figures do not include a comprehensive and publicly available breakdown by sex, gender or disability. Because of this, women with disabilities are simply not included in national data collection systems”, she said.
The report quotes data from a survey conducted in March by the Equality CSO in seven Kyrgyz regions. Of the 150 women with disabilities surveyed, 93% (140 women) reported having experienced at least one form of violence, with 27% reporting sexual violence.
Gryaznova says that Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have still not met their obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, despite all three countries having already ratified these agreements. As a result, disabled women continue to be left without protection against sexual violence.
According to Iminova, all forms of violence against these women – physical, sexual, economic and psychological – are largely covert in nature. “If a wheelchair is moved a metre away, the woman can no longer reach it and so cannot get to the bathroom, eat or leave the home on her own. Is this violence? Of course it is. But she will rarely tell anyone, particularly if she is dependent on a relative or caregiver”, says the activist.
“It usually starts with psychological pressure”, says Iminova. The woman is gradually made to believe that she is a “burden” and that caring for her is only done as a favour by someone. Consequently, any subsequent physical or sexual violence is presented as if she has “deserved” it. According to Iminova, in the majority of cases, it is the relatives or those close to the women who are involved in sexual violence. In residential facilities and other secure institutions such incidents occur even more frequently and are rarely reported.
Natalya Plotnikova, Chairwoman of the Opa Singillar Association of Women with Disabilities in Uzbekistan, who has headed the organisation for 25 years and is herself a wheelchair user due to paralysis in both legs, says that the State often disregards the problems faced by people like her.
“The Government simply ignores us, no matter what complaint or request disabled women might have”, she says, adding that it is not only State buildings that are inaccessible but the justice system itself. Many disabled women, like women in general, are afraid to go to the police. “Firstly, it’s a waste of time and secondly too much information would get out among the public”, she says.
Natalya recalls a roundtable event attended by the director of a centre that helps female domestic violence victims. When Natalya asked if disabled women could access the centre, the director replied “Oh no, no – they would need to have a carer with them”. Natalya then asked whether the centre had accessible facilities and if she as a wheelchair user would be able to gain entry and was told “We don’t have that kind of access for you and no-one is going to provide it – it’s just an additional expense”. “That just sums up the attitude of the Government and its agencies towards us”, Natalya says sadly.
The interviewee said that the lack of official figures makes it very difficult to answer the question of how often women with disabilities in Uzbekistan are subjected to sexual violence. Women rarely seek help because they don’t believe any will be forthcoming and because they are simply unable to leave their homes. Violence is often committed by close relatives and older women in the family. Mothers and grandmothers “try to ensure that news of this is never revealed outside the home”.
“Those who are supposed to protect others often become an obstacle to justice, or turn out to be perpetrators themselves. One case in Uzbekistan is illustrative where a mother on hearing of reported sexual abuse of her daughter by her brother took away her phone, reported her to the police, then placed her in a psychiatric hospital, thereby preventing any investigation”, says the Equality Now report. “This is why we don’t have any statistics”, says Plotnikova.
The difficult path to justice
“The path to justice in sexual violence cases affecting women and girls with disabilities is fraught with difficulties. Every stage, from filing a complaint to an investigation, then a trial has its own challenges, with any break in the chain leading to the complete collapse of the process”, says the report.
“Many victims, exhausted by the protracted legal process and having to relive their trauma, are forced to give up on seeking justice”, says Daryana Gryaznova.
She says that all the cases described in the report reflect deep-seated systemic problems. “The Criminal Codes of all three countries define rape as the use of physical force, the threat of its use, or the “helpless state” of the victim, rather than lack of consent, which is contrary to international standards. Such a narrow definition, which formally applies to disabled and able-bodied persons, ignores the nature of rape and other forms of sexual violence, with the risk that many such instances will remain outside the scope of legal scrutiny, particularly involving women with disabilities who face multiple discrimination”.
Access to justice for these women is also limited at the institutional level. Government buildings and police stations don’t have ramps, there are no interpreters, adapted documents or communication support.
“Trauma-led approaches to questioning and continuing legal aid are still not in place at every level”, says Gryaznova. The lack of support services – shelters, psychological assistance and legal help – exacerbates the situation, with existing services not really geared to meet the needs of women with disabilities who have been subjected to sexual violence.
Persistent stereotyping of both gender and disability is an additional factor. These stereotypes can slow down or interrupt progress on a case, further traumatises victims and effectively reduces the level of accountability for the aggressors”, says the report.
Repeated questioning, an emphasis on physical injuries and biological evidence rather than focusing on the context of the crime and witness statements, all increase the risk of renewed victimisation.
Tajikistan
Although not covered in the report, the problems described therein will be very familiar to disabled women in the country.
“There are no official statistics on sexual violence committed against women with disabilities. But in our experience, we believe that such cases occur much more frequently than is documented”, said Saida Inoyatova, Head of the Ishtirok League of Women with Disabilities in Dushanbe, in an interview with Azattyk Asia.
She says that many women never contact State authorities because of fear of public stigma, dependence on their family, ignorance of their rights, distrust of the police, that no-one will believe them or be provided with an environment that can accommodate their special needs. “That’s why women most often seek psychological support and a safe space, rather than legal protection. Their main concern is to maintain confidentiality”, says Inoyatova.
According to Saida, women with disabilities stay silent, not for the lack of anything to say, but because they know the system won’t listen to them.
Is change possible?
Daryana Gryaznova believes that change is possible but only if countries recognise that disabled women need a functioning protection system, not just formal support. She lists a number of recommendations that, according to the report’s authors, should be common practice in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan:
First and foremost, countries must stop treating sexual violence as an issue to be dealt with by one single agency. “We need a cross-sectoral, truly inclusive approach that enables the police, medical professionals, social services and the courts to work together, not in isolation”, says Gryaznova.
It is equally important to recognise the full legal rights of disabled women and to review the outdated guardianship system, which often deprives them of their right to speak for themselves and to make their own decisions.
Experts propose changing the very definition of rape: any non-consensual sex should be considered a violent act. Furthermore, says Gryaznova, investigative authorities and the courts should assess the actions of the suspect and the circumstances of a case, not the victims’ “cognitive abilities”. If a woman is dependent on a caregiver, lives in a secure institution, or doesn’t have access to communication devices, such situations should be recognised as incapable of demonstrating “genuine consent”.
A separate set of recommendations concerns access to justice. Gryaznova says that Governments are obliged to provide reasonable and transparent readjustments to the process at every stage, from filing a complaint to going to court. This means accessible buildings, interpreters, adapted documentation and communication support.
“Support services – crisis centres, psychologists, lawyers – must be real, not just on paper and adapted to cater for different types of disability”, she adds.
Experts are also calling on Central Asian Governments to establish early detection systems for violence, to train specialists, develop prevention measures and organise informed and transparent data collection procedures. Finally, they urge the ratification of international agreements that remain outside the scope of national legislation. “Without this, women with disabilities will still be invisible and defenceless against violence”, says Gryaznova.
Statistics
According to data from Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, there are 743,700 people with disabilities living in the country. Almost half, 44%, are women.
Figures from Kyrgyzstan’s National Statistics Committee show that in 2023, 217,222 people received pensions and disability benefits, including 103,411 women.
At the end of the first quarter of 2025, there were 1,031,609 officially registered disabled people in Uzbekistan, around 2.7% of the country’s population, of whom 465,645 are women.
There are approximately 171,000 officially registered persons with disabilities living in Tajikistan, of whom around 40% are women. However, official registration doesn’t cover everyone: many disabled people aren’t registered due to bureaucracy, stigma, and lack of documentation, especially in rural and remote areas. Human rights activists estimate that the actual number of disabled people in the country may be significantly higher.
Nargiz Khamrabaeva
