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A Domestic Violence Case Goes to Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court

Self-Defence Against Domestic Violence Should Count at Trial

Gulzhan Pasanova could spend 10 years in prison because in defending herself from her abusive husband, he died. On October 22, the Supreme Court of Kyrgyzstan will consider her case on appeal. In November 2019, Pasanova’s husband, accusing her of…
Cartoon about Domestic Violence by Tatiana Zelenskaya
News

Impunity for Domestic Violence Still the Norm in Kyrgyzstan

Man Who Abused Wife in Viral Video Sentenced to Probation Only

After years of monitoring violence against women in Kyrgyzstan, and seeing little done to punish abusers, we thought this time might finally be different. It wasn’t. It looked like an open and shut case. The horrific abuse was captured on video…
An artistic representation of a domestic violence case in Kyrgyzstan. © Tatiana Zelenskaya
News

Video of Domestic Abuse Sparks Outrage in Kyrgyzstan

Calls to Strengthen Justice and Support for Abuse Survivors

A video depicting horrific domestic abuse, circulating recently on social media in Kyrgyzstan, shows a man slapping his wife and pouring water over her head. The woman’s hands are tied behind her back, and tires, weighted down with stones, hang over her…
An artistic representation of a domestic violence case in Kyrgyzstan.
News

Women Risk Domestic Violence During Kyrgyzstan’s Lockdown

Domestic Violence Services Need to Be Classified As “Essential”

Under Kyrgyzstan’s present state of emergency, which includes a curfew from 8pm to 7am, it has become a lot more difficult for women to escape domestic violence. Many are too afraid to call the police or help centres, says Tolkun Tulekova, acting…
Cartoon about Domestic Violence by Tatiana Zelenskaya
News

Uneven ‘Extremism’ Justice in Kyrgyzstan

In Kyrgyzstan, there are people serving time for a crime no longer in the books.

Each week, a young man who sells shoes at a market in southern Kyrgyzstan loses a day of work to travel to the open prison where he is serving a three-year sentence. But the crime for which he was convicted, possession of “extremist” material, no longer…
An airplane trace is seen behind a Kyrgyzstan national flag fluttering in a central square in Bishkek March 11, 2013.
News

Kyrgyzstan: Women’s Activists Detained

Investigate Attacks on Marchers

(Berlin) – Kyrgyzstan police held about 70 activists, most of them women, for hours on March 8, 2020 without telling them the grounds for their detention or providing access to lawyers, Human Rights Watch said today. The activists had themselves…
202003eca_Kyrgyzstan_womensmarch
News

Grim news from Kyrgyzstan on domestic violence

It shouldn’t take a series of brutal murders to prompt government action.

For women in Kyrgyzstan, 2020 has already been deadly. At least three women were killed by their husbands or partners in the first 14 days of the year. Their deaths resulted from abuse including kicks to the head, burns, stabbing and…
Burulai Turdaaly kyzy’s portrait on a building at the medical college she attended in Bishkek, November 2018.
News

Kyrgyzstan: Pressure Builds to Protect Women and Girls

On Anniversary of Woman’s Murder, Act to Halt Violence Against Women

(Bishkek) – The failure of Kyrgyzstan’s government to prevent and punish violence against women and girls leaves them at risk of injury and even death, Human Rights Watch said today, a year after a man murdered a young woman he had kidnapped for…
Burulai Turdaaly kyzy’s portrait on a building at the medical college she attended in Bishkek, November 2018.
Report

“We Live in Constant Fear”

  Summary In 2017, “Sukhrob” was convicted of possessing extremist material in Kyrgyzstan after counterterrorism police raided his home and claimed they found a magazine and three other pages of writing from a banned Islamist…
News

Kyrgyzstan: Abusive Crackdowns on 'Extremist' Material

Mandatory Prison for Possessing Banned Pamphlets, Videos

(Bishkek) – Kyrgyzstan is convicting hundreds of people for possessing videos, pamphlets, and books that it has banned using a dangerously overbroad definition of extremism, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Offenders…
Counterterrorism police carry out a search in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on October 16, 2015.
News

Interview: How Not to Fight Terrorism in Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan’s Crackdown on ‘Extremist Material’

Tell me about your new report on Kyrgyzstan’s crackdown on “extremist” material. This report documents the use of a little-known measure in Kyrgyzstan, article 299-2 of the criminal code, which allows authorities to throw people in prison for…
An airplane trace is seen behind a Kyrgyzstan national flag fluttering in a central square in Bishkek March 11, 2013.
News

Young Woman’s Murder in Kyrgyzstan Shows Cost of ‘Tradition’

Government Should Do More to End ‘Bride Kidnapping,’ Protect Victims

The 20-year-old woman from Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek, was headed for a medical career and marriage to the man she loved. Instead, she was murdered by a jealous admirer who had “bride kidnapped” her to force her into marriage. It is…
Screenshot from a video showing a photograph of Burulai Turdaaly Kyzy.
News

Latin America Could Lead the Way for LGBT Rights in 2018

In a moment when some countries have stepped back on LGBT rights, a January 9th decision by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has opened a window of opportunity for Latin America to lead the way.   In a landmark…
People celebrate after the Inter-American Court of Human Rights called on Costa Rica and Latin America to recognize equal marriage, in San Jose, Costa Rica, January 9, 2018. The sign reads: "The court said yes".
News

States should protect LGBTI persons from violence and discrimination; Philippines should cooperate with UN executions mandate

Item 3: Interactive Dialogue with Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions

We welcome the first report of the Independent Expert on SOGI-related violence and discrimination. We recognize that some States opposed creation of the mandate, but are encouraged that it was reaffirmed by the General Assembly with support from all UN…
Delegates arrive for the 34th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, February 27, 2017.
News

Kyrgyzstan: New Domestic Violence Law

Government Moves to Improve Response to Abuse

President Almazbek Atambayev of Kyrgyzstan took an important step toward curbing violence against women when he signed a new domestic violence law and accompanying legislation on April 27, 2017, Human Rights Watch said…
Young women in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. Nearly one-third of women in Kyrgyzstan experience abuse by a spouse or partner.
News

Central Asia: Make Improving Rights a Priority

End Torture; Respect Basic Freedoms

(Berlin) – Central Asia's political leaders should focus on urgently needed improvements to basic human rights protections for their populations, as they deal with leadership succession and internal politics, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing its…
2016-10-7-eca-kazakhstan-bokaev-protest

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