Human Rights Developments

Defending Human Rights

The Role of the International Community

The Role of the International Community

The international community continued, for the most part, to accept at face value statements in support of human rights from President Akaev, who benefited from the country’s liberal democratic image cultivated in the first years after independence; it largely ignored the true state of worsening human rights.

European Union

As in 1997, in 1998 the European Union continued to shower Kyrgyzstan with direct aid and technical assistance, amounting this year to 21 million ecu ($14.5 million). The E.U. ignored ongoing violations of human rights in Kyrgyzstan; instead it stressed the need for cooperation in preventing narcotics trafficking, which inspired the visit of German President Roman Herzog to Kyrgyzstan in February.

Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)

The OSCE focused greater attention than in the past on human rights in Kyrgyzstan. A November 1997 OSCE-sponsored seminar on human rights provided an open forum for frank discussion of Kyrgyzstan’s human rights record. The Chairman-in-Office included Kyrgyzstan in his April 1998 visit to the region, as did the Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) special representative for Central Asia, in March. The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities twice visited Kyrgyzstan, in December 1997 and June 1998, to oversee a survey of inter-ethnic relations in the south. In June he participated in a seminar for regional governors on “Managing Inter-Ethnic Relations.” ODIHR technical assistance projects for Kyrgyzstan include training programs on elections and on the rule of law. In July, the Permanent Council decided to establish a new OSCE center in Bishkek.

United States

The United States continued to criticize the Kyrgyzstan government’s pressure on political activists and its use of criminal libel charges to suppress freedom of the press. The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1997 impartially chronicled the mounting toll of abuse, and an investigation by the Congressional Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe found signs of creeping authoritarianism. However, no meaningful consequences resulted, and U.S. aid appropriations continued to grow (from an estimated $24 million for fiscal year 1998 to $31 million requested for fiscal year 1999).