Naryn, Talas, Osh October, 2013
Kyrgyzstan marks Open Day on Women, Peace and Security
In 2013, UN Women joined efforts with its long-standing partner the OSCE Centre in Bishkek and focused the Open Days for Peace 2013 around advocacy for the implementation of state commitments on Women Peace
and Security (WPS) and the National Action Plan (NAP) on the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325. Focusing on young people who are the majority in Kyrgyzstan, a series of lectures and events were conducted in Naryn, Talas and Osh to disseminate information and knowledge on WPS, as well as to provide a platform to express their views, opinions and concerns on current developments and the future of the country. More than 350 participants attended the events in Naryn, Talas and Osh and discussed their concerns with UN and OSCE representatives.
Background The practice of conducting an Open Day for Peace in Kyrgyzstan has started in 2010, after the June violence when UN Women Kyrgyzstan commissioned a rapid assessment of women’s needs in southern Kyrgyzstan with a view to the post-conflict situation, and implemented two component projects1 addressing these needs and rendering immediate support to victims of sexual and gender based violence (SGBV). Women’s rights advocates have always been active in Kyrgyzstan. For a number of years since the adoption of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in 2000 they have been advocating for special attention of the decision makers to issues related to women, peace and security . However, according to the
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representation of women in the political sphere in 2012 was only 23,3 % in the parliament and 13,4 % in local councils. Only after the deadly violent conflict in the south of the country in 2010, the Parliament of the Kyrgyz Republic took a decision to elaborate the National Action Plan (NAP) on 1 funded by the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund
implementation of the UNSCR 1325 and consequent resolutions related to women’s participation in peacebuilding and protecting women’s rights in conflicts. In February 2013, Kyrgyzstan adopted a NAP 1325 for 2013-1014. UN Women partnered with the UNRCCA and OSCE in advocacy efforts to lobby for the NAP as provided technical support and facilitation during the drafting process. Naryn State University, Naryn city, Kyrgyzstan Date: 25 October 2015 The UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Judy Cheng-Hopkins visiting Kyrgyzstan gave a lecture on peacebuilding to over 80 students, teachers and journalists at Naryn State University.2 She noted that Kyrgyzstan remains on the list of fragile states 3 and highlighted the importance of including women into all stages of post-conflict peacebuilding, in particular in the area of political participation. Cheng-Hopkins referred to studies showing that a higher proportion of women in parliaments have a positive impact on legislation relating to education, healthcare and social services. She called upon the youth not to accept conflict as an instrument of certain groups to achieve power. The lecture was followed by a lively discussion between students and members of the delegation. Asked about their concerns, the students raised a number of issues that they are facing in their daily lives. Several male students referred to the high number of suicides4 among the youth in the town of Naryn and the need for psychologists. General corruption and the not well functioning judicial system, including insufficient independence of judges were also raised. Others referred to economic problems, such as unemployment, and their consequences like high migration rates. Women, even with university education had to work on bazaars, because they could not find other jobs. Other topics were decreasing levels of higher education as well as a trend of religious education outside of state institutions. As Naryn is an almost mono-ethnic town of 99% ethnic Kyrgyz citizens, conflicts between ethnic groups was mentioned but not particularly highlighted. 2 The delegation of the ASG included the UN RC Alexander Avanessov and Mira Karybaeva from the Presidential Administration of the Kyrgyz Republic, PBSO staff, the Head of UN Women and a OSCE Human Dimension Officer.
3 OECD list of fragile states 4 Discussing potential reasons for the high rate of suicides among youth in the country, the local OSCE staff referred to the generation gap due to the high migration rate. In many families, both parents leave the country for labour migration and either leave the children with relatives or even without any supervision and/or family support.
A UN Women staff member had conducted focus group discussions among students on the issues of youth, women and peace one day before the event, where students discussed in greater detail the concerns about widespread practices of bride kidnapping, impunity in all spheres of life, religious extremism and worrying societal problems. Talas State University, Talas city, Kyrgyzstan Date: 28 October 2015 The event in Talas was held at the local State University (TSU) on 28 October 2013. Sabine Machl, the UN Women Representative in Kyrgyzstan delivered a lecture on youth, women and peace for over 250 students, teachers and journalists at the Talas State University. She gave an overview of the UN peace and security framework, the genesis of UN SC Resolution 1325 and the implementation of the 7 Point Action Plan in Kyrgyzstan as one of the pilot countries. She referred to the June 2010 violence and the importance of peacebuilding and conflict prevention in the country, and highlighted UN Women’s activities. Katinka Patscher, Human Dimension Officer from the OSCE Centre in Bishkek provided an overview of the OSCE mandate in Kyrgyzstan and underlined that OSCE, as a regional security organization, considers the promotion of gender equality not only from a human rights perspective but as a pillar to strengthen stability and security in the country. She highlighted that OSCE was working with law enforcement agencies to make them aware about international human rights standards, and sensitize them about gender issues, including SGBV and domestic violence. Students highlighted a worrying trend to early marriages – sometimes even at the age of 16/17 before finishing high-school – and that access psychological was lacking to deal with the resulting stress. One student referred to the stigma of reporting domestic violence that would emerge if such a “family issue” would be made public. Also, the problem of reporting violence cases to male police officers was raised. One student pointed out that the rights of women living a religious life were more limited. The Vice-Rector added that Gender Equality was part of the curriculum at the University. She also discussed a case of bride
kidnapping5, in which she was asked to intervene. Also this lecture was followed by a lively discussion between students and UN Women and OSCE representatives. Issues included the lack of assigned institutions’ certified religious education in rural areas, lack of psychological support for youth in schools and universities, low level of education, increasing level of labour migration, tense inter-ethnic situation in the country and gender stereotypes. It was also said that misinterpretation of the concept of gender equality due to limited awareness resulted in early marriages and negative consequences on the life of young women including violence against women and girls.
Osh Presidential Residence Date: 29 October 2013 The event in Osh was organized by the OSCE to mark the 3 rd anniversary of the Women Initiative Groups (WIGs) that were established as a response to some of the needs emerged following the June 2010 violence. The event was hosted by the OSCE and attended by several state institutions including the police, the prosecutor’s office, the Office of the Ombudsman, foreign consulates and civil society. UN Women attended the event and gave a presentation of its main programmatic lines. The Women Initiative Groups, consisting of 98 women from all the three southern regions of Kyrgyzstan, provided an overview of their work in addressing vulnerabilities at community level and also highlighted 5 See a recent article on the topic from Newsweek http://www.newsweek.com/grab-and-run-1634?%3F%3F%3F
good practices of cooperation with local state authorities. The event also gave the opportunity to present an OSCE funded survey on perception of violence in the south of Kyrgyzstan which represented a basis for tailoring capacity building support to the Women Initiative Groups, religious leaders and the police of three southern provinces. Many women’s NGOs and gender experts have been advocating for a very long time to have a National Action on UNSCR 1325 developed, which was finally signed by the Prime Minister in February 2013. The role of women in early warning systems; monitoring work performed by Women’s Peace Committees, resulting in analysis and recommendations to duty bearers; role of women in conflict prevention and resolution; negotiation and mediation; and women’s participation in post-conflict planning was discussed on the Forum. Media coverage: http://barakelde.org/news:58090/ http://www.super.kg/kabar/news/36643/ http://kg.akipress.org/news:585327 http://www.vb.kg/doc/248601_v_kyrgyzstane_prohodiat_dni_mira.html http://centralasiaonline.com/ru/articles/caii/features/main/2013/11/01/feature-01 http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/features/main/2013/11/01/feature-01?change_locale=true http://unitekyrgyzstan.kloop.kg/2013/10/29/ky-rgy-zstan-otmechaet-mezhdunarodny-j-den-mira/ http://www.awli-kg.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=253:2013-10-24-06-44-23&catid=3:events-c&Itemid=64 https://www.facebook.com/UNiTEKG?ref=hl