Helping yourself and others Muhae Positive dialogue, Osh
“We had several cases of women trying to or succeding to commit a suicide with a child. In my case, the police and court ignored the fact that the defendant was subjected to violence for fifteen years. They ignored her wounds and refused to accept clear evidence. The penalty is twelve years of imprisonment for the attempted murder of a child, even though she had tried to kill herself as well. She and her child jumped out of the window, but the investigators did not take the attempted suicide into account. They also ignored all the factors that led her to attempt suicide. I really want to help women like this.”
“I found myself in discriminatory situations, but didn’t know it was discrimination or that this shouldn’t be the norm. I had no mentor growing up and had to grow up on my own. By the time I turned 20, I realized that no one would decide for me. Even if a defender did appear, they would do what they felt was right. I realized that I had to take my life into my own hands. As a girl and a woman, I had my own needs, and it was time to think about that.”
Jamal Mutakalim, Bishkek
18
Ukei Nazik Kyz, Bishkek
“When I was a student, I realized that women at the Islamic University had nowhere to turn to because the mufti was a man, the director was a man, the imams were all men, and the provosts were also all men. We had no one to turn to. Nobody would defend us, and we realized that if we have our own legal organization, we could gradually begin to defend women’s rights. This idea was born out of necessity in 1994, and we started working on the project in 1996. This became true wish-fulfillment for me, because I was probably always a defender of sorts from an early age. I loved standing up for people’s rights. I have ever since I was a little girl in school.”
