Kyrgyzstan After the Crisis: A New Dawn?

Kyrgyzstan’s journey from authoritarianism to Central Asia’s first parliamentary democracy is far from complete. The country’s political and social life has been marked in recent years by false dawns, and there are doubts as to the potential of the 2010 constitutional reform to foster genuine democratic pluralism. The balance of power emerging from forthcoming presidential elections remains unpredictable, while doubts remain about the staying power for the ruling coalition.

In the meantime, the coalition and opposition must set aside rivalries to work together to overcome the legacies of corrupt governance and recent interethnic violence by protecting human rights, freedom of expression and media, strengthening the judiciary, and fighting high-level corruption.

At this event, four civil society representatives from Kyrgyzstan analyzed the current state of play and the country’s prospects for further democratization, addressing the following questions:

• Will the current government—and more generally, the region’s first parliamentary democracy—survive?
• What are the paths to interethnic reconciliation following the Kiljunen report?
• How can the European Union further support efforts to consolidate democracy and protect human rights in Kyrgyzstan?

Speakers

• Dinara Oshurakhunova, the Coalition of NGOs
• Dmitry Kabak, the Public Foundation Open Position
• Ruslan Khakimov, Soros Foundation–Kyrgyzstan
• Sardarbek Bagishbekov, the Voice of Freedom NGO
• Jacqueline Hale, Open Society Foundations (moderator)

Event Summary

Civil society representatives visiting Brussels from Kyrgyzstan called for the European Union to support Kyrgyzstan in its bid to become Central Asia’s first parliamentary democracy. They highlighted continuing challenges for the government and areas where the EU can lend its support, including:

• Access to justice and fair trial, highlighted by the lack of due process for ethnic Uzbeks accused of participation in June’s inter-ethnic violence in Southern Kyrgyzstan that resulted in over 450 deaths and the pursuit of more than 300 criminal cases.
• Interethnic reconciliation, to counter rising nationalist sentiment, and ahead of the Kiljunen Commission report into the June violence.
• Technical and financial support to parliamentary processes, critical to enhancing the integrity and leadership role of that body in advance of Presidential elections in the autumn.

The group—comprised of Dmitry Kabak from Open Position, Dinara Oshurakhunova from the Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society, and Sadarbek Bagishbekov from Voice of Freedom—was in Brussels to present a monitoring report (available for download below) on the human rights situation in Kyrgyzstan in advance of the EU-Kyrgyzstan human rights dialogue, due to take place in May.

Speaking at a public roundtable, they highlighted the case of ethnic Uzbek human rights defender Azimzhan Askarov, now due to be heard on appeal by the Supreme Court on April 12. The case—as well as that of seven others tried with him—is seen as emblematic, particularly as a Kyrgyz court has found that the refusal by the state prosecutors’ office to investigate his complaint of torture was illegal.

President Rosa Otunbayeva, elected in 2010 and the first female president in the post-Soviet space, is currently the main interlocutor for the international community. However her mandate is constitutionally restricted to presidential elections to be held at the end of the year. Kyrgyzstan also has Central Asia’s first parliamentary coalition government. It will therefore fall to the Parliament to exercise its responsibility for ensuring access to justice and interethnic reconciliation.

The Parliament’s agenda will have to include a strategy for reconciliation as well as fostering an open, consultative decision-making process to debate and enact priority reforms. Yet the newly empowered body currently lacks the necessary structure and procedures to fulfill this role. If the Parliament is to deliver a clear agenda to move the country beyond the June events it requires technical as well as political support.

The EU, seen as a neutral player by Kyrgyz citizens, can play a role in forging a consensus around a reform agenda led by Parliament. The EU is in a position to exercise greater conditionality on substantial direct budget support; while enhanced political and financial support to the non-governmental sector can help improve the oversight and effectiveness of EU policies in the country.

The group’s report makes further recommendations to the government on the rights of detainees and vulnerable groups, freedom of expression, and the rights of women and children.

For further recommendations to the government of Kyrgyzstan on interethnic reconciliation, see Promoting a Stable and Multiethnic Kyrgyzstan: Overcoming the Causes and Legacies of Violence by Neil Melvin, a paper supported by the Open Society Foundations.