Kyrgyzstan: things still to be improved

Despite positive developments in terms of human rights and democracy in Kyrgyzstan, human rights violations in the south of the country undermine many positive initiatives.

In its report to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee recommends that the government of Kyrgyzstan investigates and brings to justice perpetrators of violence against civilians among government forces during the June 2010 events in the south of the country, and in the period following the violence. The Human Rights Council will review the situation for human rights in Kyrgyzstan at their 21st session set to January 2015.

“In Kyrgyzstan we find some of the most positive developments in Central Asia on government policy level in terms of human rights and democracy. Conscious efforts have been made in the past four years to move away from the authoritarian form of government evident in many of its neighboring countries, and to improve the situation concerning civil and political rights in particular. Elections in recent years have received generally positive assessments by the OSCE observer missions,” the NHC submission says.

However, the government of Kyrgyzstan has not done enough to deal with the aftermath of the tragic events that broke out in the provinces of Osh and Jalalabad immediately following its last Universal Periodic Review, in May 2010. To this day, human rights violations in the south of the country undermine many positive initiatives in the capital. These violations in the south are a main concern.

The promotion of draft laws intended to curb the rights of civil society as well as sexual minorities is another cause of concern. So far, none of these drafts have made their way into the country’s legislation, but as such initiatives continue to be raised by Members of Parliament, this trend threatens to inverse progress made by Kyrgyzstan after the April 2010 revolution.