Tag Archives: womens’ rights

Threats made against Kazakh murder judge

APRIL 19 2024 (The Bulletin) — Police in Astana started investigating anonymous threats made against the judge presiding over the trial of former Kazakh economy minister Kuandyk Bishimbayev for the murder of his wife. The Supreme Court said that the threats had been left on the phone of Aizhan Kulbayeva, the judge. Bishimbayev’s trial is perhaps the most high-profile murder trial in Kazakhstan’s history.

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— This story was published in issue 565 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on April 23 2024

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2024

Armenia strengthens domestic abuse laws

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APRIL 18 2024 (The Bulletin) — Armenia’s parliament has approved new laws that toughen punishments for domestic abuse, said the New York-based Human Rights Watch. The amendments included coercion as a form of domestic abuse and labelled stalking as a crime. HRW said that more needed to be done to improve women’s rights in Armenia but that this was an important step. It also described the amendments as a move towards the West.

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— This story was published in issue 565 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on April 23 2024

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2024

Iranian chess player loses hijab for Kazakh chess tournament

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JAN. 3 2023 (The Bulletin) — A female Iranian chess player who removed her hijab at a chess tournament in Kazakhstan in solidarity with protesters in Iran fled into exile in Spain. Sara Khadem was told that she wouldn’t be safe if she returned to Iran any time soon. Women in Iran are required to wear a hijab, although not in Kazakhstan.

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— This story was published in issue 532 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on Jan. 16 2023

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2023

Women in region march against violence

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MARCH 8 (The Bulletin) — Women in Central Asia and the South Caucasus’ biggest cities marched in protests against domestic violence on International Women’s Day. The region, known for its unreformed macho overtones, has one of the worst records in the world for domestic violence. Activists have said the coronavirus lockdowns have exacerbated the issue. Last year the women’s rights march in Bishkek was attacked by masked men. This year it passed off without incident.

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— This story was published in issue 475 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on March 15 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Kyrgyz MPs debate increased punishments for domestic abuse

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JUNE 19 (The Bulletin) — MPs in Kyrgyzstan debated increasing fines for domestic abuse after a video went viral of a woman standing with her hands tied behind her back as her husband poured cold water over her head and slapped her. Activists have said that Kyrgyzstan, a notoriously macho society, is too soft on domestic abuse. Reports said that police have arrested the man in the video.

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— This story was first published in issue 451 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, published on June 23 2020

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

Coordinator of Kyrgyz feminist exhibition says she was attacked

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DEC. 26 2019 (The Bulletin) — Aigul Karabalina, one of the coordinators of the Feminale exhibition in Bishkek that promoted women’s rights, said that she had been attacked in the street. She linked the attack, in which she suffered concussion and a bruise under her eye, with what she said was a misogynistic backlash against Feminale. She now wants to leave the country. Activists have said that the government has not done enough to promote women’s rights.
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— This story was first published in issue 432 of the weekly Bulletin on Dec. 27 2019

Kyrgyz feminist exhibition organiser quits after death threats

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BISHKEK/Dec. 3 (The Bulletin) –Mira Dzhangaracheva, the director of Kyrgyzstan’s National Museum of Fine Arts, said that she had resigned her position after receiving deaths threats links to a feminist exhibition.

The exhibition, called Feminale, which has been shown in the museum since Nov. 28, has shocked most ordinary Kyrgyz. Dedicated to the 17 Kyrgyz migrant women workers who died in a fire in 2016 at the Moscow printing house they were working in, the exhibition’s organisers said that their mission was to promote women’s rights in Kyrgyzstan’s staunchly macho and conservative society.

Exhibits included a boxing punch bag shaped like the torso of a woman, a Danish performance artist wandering around a room naked and various references to nudity.

But while the show has earned praise from Bishkek’s younger, liberal-minded millennials, it has also generated criticism. Delegations of Kyrgyz elders have visited government offices to demand that the show is closed. Employees of the museum and artists, including Ms Dzhangaracheva, said that they have received death threats.

The government stepped in and removed some of the more provocative exhibits, the ones it said showed “nude women in a temple of art”.

Now, Ms Dzhangaracheva , the National Fine Art Museum director, has said that it is safer for her to quit rather than try to see off the conservatives who she said have stymied artistic expression in Kyrgyzstan.

“Over the past five days there have been so many threats to me personally and my employees and to the organisers of this Feminale that I worry about our people,” she told the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty website in an interview.

Women, gay and minorities’ rights in Kyrgyzstan have been worsening according to activists.
Human Rights Watch said of the government’s decision to block part of the Feminale exhibition: “Rather than limiting public access to thought-provoking art, the Kyrgyz government should protect its creators against threats of violence and support freedom of expression, including about women’s rights.”
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— This story was first published in issue 431 of the weekly Bulletin on Dec. 9 2019

Kazakh city mayor sacked after rape of schoolgirl

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NOV. 22 (The Bulletin) — Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev sacked the mayor of Taraz, a town of 350,000 people in the south of the country, after a 12-year-old girl was raped in the latrine of her school. The rape sparked outrage in Taraz at the lack of care and oversight at the school. Reuters reported that 30% of schools in Kazakhstan still use outdoor latrines.
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— This story was first published in issue 430 of the weekly Bulletin.

Georgia ratifies domestic violence convention

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MAY 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia became the first country in the former Soviet Union to ratify the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention aimed at increasing punishment for domestic violence, media reported. The Convention increases police powers and sets up a series of 24-hour telephone lines to report domestic violence.

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(News report from Issue No. 330, published on May 28 2017)

HRW praises new Kyrgyz domestic violence laws

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BISHKEK, MAY 9 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) praised Kyrgyzstan for introducing new laws surrounding domestic violence, describing them as setting an important new standard for the region.

Activists have complained that domestic violence has largely gone unchecked and ignored by the male- dominated societies of Central Asia. They consider the introduction of the laws which make reporting domestic violence easier, as reported in issue 327 of The Conway Bulletin, to be groundbreaking.

Hillary Margolis, women’s rights researcher at HRW, said: “By enacting this new law, the Kyrgyz government has shown a commitment to the rights of domestic abuse victims and is setting a standard that others in the region should follow.”

The new laws improve protection for the victims of domestic violence and also validate that a complaint made by anybody about domestic violence has to be investigated by the police. Previously only a complaint by the direct victim had to be investigated and often these victims were reluctant to come forward.

HRW said that domestic violence was widespread in Kyrgyzstan, affecting a third of women. It said that only around half the cases were reported and, even then, only 7% were referred to courts as criminal cases.

It is a similar story across the region. Last year, in Kazakhstan, the issue of domestic violence was thrust into the mainstream when the popular TV host Bayan Yessentayeva was beaten by her husband at a petrol station outside Almaty. In subsequent interviews, women’s rights campaigners described domestic abuse as rampant because of a mix of heavy drinking and macho attitudes which subjugate women.

Referring to Kyrgyzstan, HRW said that the new laws needed to be backed-up by a change to the mindset.

“The new domestic violence law will only be meaningful if its promise is backed by action to make better protection for victims a reality,” Ms Margolis, from HRW, said.

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(News report from Issue No. 328, published on May 12 2017)