The UN calls on Kyrgyzstan to intensify curbing violence against women and girls

While acknowledging the recent efforts made by the State to promote gender equality, and the rights of women and girls, the UN system in Kyrgyzstan expresses concern with the aggravate forms of cases of gender-based violence reported in recent months and the continuing impunity for the perpetrators of violence against women and girls.

Since 1996, the Kyrgyz Republic is a party to the international treaty Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) which commits the country to eliminate discrimination against women and girls in all areas and promote women’s and girls’ equal rights. The UN commends the commitment of the Kyrgyz republic in submitting its fifth periodic report to the CEDAW committee in 2021.  Following the submission, the CEDAW Committee recommended that the state should intensify its efforts to prevent, protect and assist victims, and bring perpetrators to justice, as per Concluding Observations to Kyrgyzstan issued in November 2021 (link: CEDAW Kyrgyzstan 2021).

The UN system urges the Government to accelerate the prompt and adequate investigation by law enforcement agencies of all crimes of violence against women and girls, and to provide all women and girls of Kyrgyzstan access to redress. In line with international standards, family reconciliation measures should not be forced upon victims of violence in lieu of a proper investigation and access to a due process of justice.

The UN system further urges the government to intensify awareness-raising among public servants and general public on the criminal nature of all forms of gender-based violence, including domestic and sexual violence, and to support the population and civil society in rejecting such crimes. Particular care must be taken to protect children and adolescents, women migrants, women living with HIV, women with disabilities and women from other vulnerable groups from discrimination, exploitation, and gender-based violence.

The UN acknowledges many positive efforts by stakeholders to date and affirms to continue supporting the government in its efforts to address gender-based violence, change social attitudes that normalise domestic violence, and develop the capacity of the law enforcement agencies and justice system on meeting the needs of women and girls.

Background

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in 2021 there were 604 cases of rape, 53% of them were terminated due to lack of substantial evidence. There were 254 cases of abduction, of which 84% were terminated for the same reason. In 2021, there were 10,151 registered cases of domestic violence. Victims of family violence were issued 9,038 temporary protection orders, of which 8,463 were issued to women and 264 to minors.

As of 2022, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 3,988 cases of domestic violence were registered in the first 5 months of 2022.