State Reports - CEDAW - Kyrgyzstan - CEDAW/C/KGZ/1 (1998)

1. The Kyrgyz Republic acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women on 10 February 1997.

2. This report has been prepared on the basis of the general guidelines for the form and content of initial and periodic reports, in accordance with article 18, paragraph 1 (a), of the Convention. The report uses information from ministries and departments of the Kyrgyz Republic responsible for issues relating to the situation of individuals in the Kyrgyz Republic and the exercise of their rights and from social organizations concerned with human rights. The report gives a general outline of the situation of citizens, aliens and stateless persons in the Kyrgyz Republic, as related to contemporary social and economic processes and provides information, article by article, on measures taken by Kyrgyzstan to fulfil its obligations under the Convention, the progress made, problems encountered and measures planned for the further implementation of the Convention.

3. The report analyses the basic regulatory and legislative instruments of the Kyrgyz Republic. The "Annexes" reproduce the texts of statutory and other regulatory instruments and additional information pertinent to the subject of the report.

4. Efforts to ensure wide public dissemination of the material in the report were initiated as the report was being written. In accordance with Ordinance No. 218 of the Kyrgyz Republic of 27 June 1997, a special commission was established to write the report, comprising members of governmental and judicial bodies. The commission held a number of meetings and carried out consultations. The draft report was sent to all ministries, administrative departments and non-governmental organizations whose remarks and wishes were taken into account in the preparation of the final version.

5. In the past seven years of its sovereign existence, the Kyrgyz Republic has shown the world that it is a unique ethnic and cultural component of human civilization pursuing its own path of development and has established its place as a democratic, peace-loving State. Accession to independence was not simply a mechanical transfer of power from one group to another, but a highly complex and ambiguous transition from one qualitative level to another. In this context, the fundamental shifts in people's consciousness and psychology were also complex phenomena: on the whole, the people have responded enthusiastically to the social, economic and political reforms carried out, and this is extremely important, since the people are the mainspring of the historical process and progress.

6. The Kyrgyz Republic covers an area of 199,000 square kilometres. It comprises six regions (oblasts), 41 districts, 20 cities, 29 settlements incorporated as towns and 422 rural administrations. Its capital is Bishkek (600,000 inhabitants).

7. The Kyrgyz Republic is located in the north-eastern region of Central Asia, between the Pamir-Altai mountains to the south-west and the Tien Shan mountains to the north-east. It has common borders with Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and China.

8. As of 1 January 1998, the total population was 4.7 million; the urban population numbered 1.6 million (34 per cent of the total) and the rural population, 3.1 million (66 per cent). There were 2.3 million men and 2.4 million women, 49 and 51 per cent, respectively, of the total population.

9. Age structure of the population. As of 1 January 1998, children and adolescents under 16 years of age numbered 1.8 million, or 39 per cent of the total population. Persons of working age (men between 16 and 59 and women between 16 and 54 years of age) accounted for 51 per cent of the population, while pensioners numbered 0.5 million (10 per cent). The average life expectancy was 62 years for men and 71 years for women.

10. The demographic situation is characterized by falling birth and crude death rates and a decline in migratory movement abroad. This is particularly evident in Bishkek and the Chu region, where the birth rate has fallen to 14.5 and 16.2, respectively.

11. The falling birth rate is attributable to the sharp deterioration in society's social and economic situation which, by reducing the level of family welfare, has adverse effects on reproductive behaviour.

The Government's policy to protect the population's reproductive health, in which special attention is given to maintaining optimum intervals between births, is resulting in a reduction in the number of children born to families, particularly those in the risk group.

12. The number of deaths in 1997 was approximately 35,000 (7.5 per 1,000), a decrease compared with 1996 (7.6 per 1,000). At the same time, there has been an increase in the number of deaths from diseases such as tuberculosis and ischemic heart disease that is linked to worsening living conditions.

A matter of special concern are the high (though stabilized) rates of maternal and infant mortality: the death of women during pregnancy, delivery and recovery and of infants in the first year of life. In 1997, deaths in these categories numbered over 80 women (81 per 100,000) and approximately 3,000 infants in the first year of life (28 per 1,000 births).

The principal causes of maternal mortality are renal, liver, cardiovascular and endocrine disorders and infectious diseases causing severe toxaemia accompanied by the development of multiple organ failure and postpartum haemorrhage, with fatal outcome. The main causes of infant mortality are respiratory disorders and perinatal complications.

13. External migration fell by a factor of 1.6 in 1997 compared with 1996, totalling 17,000 as against 12,000 in 1996.

14. As a result of such processes, Kyrgyzstan's population grew by 59,000 in 1997 (1.3 per cent) to total 4,666,000 on 1 January 1998.

15. Ethnic composition of the population: As of 1 January 1997, Kyrgyz were 60.8 per cent of the total population, Russians - 15.3 per cent, Uzbeks - 14.3 per cent, Ukrainians - 1.5 per cent, and there were some 80 other ethnic groups, including Germans, Tartars, Kazakhs, Koreans, Uigurs, Tajiks and Dungans.

16. Educational level of the population: In 1997, Kyrgyz citizens with higher and secondary (complete and incomplete) education numbered 872 per 1,000 of population aged 15 years and over. Of this number, 101 had complete higher education, 15 had incomplete higher education, 150 had specialized secondary education, 409 had general secondary education and 197 had incomplete secondary education.

17. The main indicator of a country's economic growth is the gross domestic product (GDP). In 1995, signs of economic stabilization could be seen in a slower rate of decline in GDP (94.6 per cent compared with the year before); in 1996, GDP actually grew (107.1 per cent). GDP for 1996 amounted to 23,399,300 soms (in 1996 prices), which was 44.9 per cent greater in nominal terms than the 1995 level and 13.2 per cent higher than the GDP forecast made in the indicative plan for the social and economic development of the Kyrgyz Republic for the period 1996 to 2000.

Nominal GDP for 1997 is estimated to have been 30,438,000 som, 10.4 per cent higher in real terms than the previous year.

18. In 1996, consumer price trends in respect of non-food items were marked by restraint in the population's effective demand. From the start of the year, the growth of non-food prices was significantly lower than the growth of food and service prices, totalling 120 per cent. In 1997, the growth of prices and tariffs for remunerated services (145.8 per cent) far outstripped the growth of consumer goods prices (133.4 per cent). Over the year as a whole, prices for staple foods, the principal item in consumer expenditure, have greatly increased. The largest price increases in 1996 were for fruits and berries (240 per cent), eggs, meat and poultry (160 per cent) and dairy products, flour, pasta, bread and bakery products (120 to 140 per cent).

In 1997, a steady downward trend in the growth of consumer prices was observed. Prices rose on average by 14.8 per cent, with prices for food increasing by 17.4 per cent, for services by 15.4 per cent and for non-food items by 7.3 per cent. The greatest increases during this period have been for meat and poultry (160 per cent), sugar (120 per cent) and vegetable oil (130 per cent).

19. Of the remunerated services monitored in 1997, the greatest increases have been in the cost of preschool facilities (140 per cent). Housing costs rose by 25.8 per cent, transport services by 22.4 per cent and communications by 8.3 per cent.

In accordance with article 34 of the Kyrgyz Constitution, State public health care institutions offer guaranteed medical services free of charge. The Government has identified and approved categories and groups of the population entitled to receive medical care free of charge. In emergencies, however, paid services may be provided with the consent of the patient or of his or her next of kin.

20. During periods of social transformation, the population's standard of living drops. For most people, particularly the most vulnerable members of society, making payments becomes difficult and many social benefits become unaffordable.

With a view to regulating the provision of remunerated medical services, a draft law on the extra-budgetary activity of Kyrgyz health care institutions has been elaborated. It sets out a list of the remunerated medical services which may be offered to those able to pay for them. The Government is making provision for targeted funding to organize summertime health-building campaigns for children under 14 years of age. Trade unions subsidize permits for stays in health resorts, although a visit to existing facilities for health and recreation, sports and tourism remains a rarity for most people.

21. Public health is affected by the disturbed ecological balance in Kyrgyzstan, variously attributable to change in the Aral basin, nuclear testing in neighbouring States and the hazardous condition of subsurface ponds for radioactive tailings.

22. As of 1 January 1998, 54,600 citizens were officially registered as being unemployed. Women accounted for 58 per cent of the total.

23. Women comprise more than half (55 per cent) of the under-age unemployed and 60 per cent of unemployed people aged 16 to 29. Nearly 67 per cent of unemployed women are raising small children, and 19 per cent of them have five or more children.

24. In the third century B.C., the Kyrgyz tribes were the most culturally and economically advanced ethnic group in southern Siberia. In the fourth century B.C., a vast association of tribes resembling the barbarian kingdoms of Western Europe was formed under the leadership of the Kyrgyz. At the height of its power, this association covered the upper Enisei basin and all of southern Siberia, including Altai and Mongolia.

The supremacy of the Kyrgyz was short-lived. By the tenth century A.D., Kyrgyzstan was the core territory in the Qarakhanid state.

In the thirteenth century, an invasion by Mongols brought about fundamental political and economic changes. Ethnographic characteristics changed. Intermingling and assimilation of ethnic groups occurred.

The fifteenth century was marked by renewed feudal strife in the Mongol Empire; the Kyrgyz tribes began to consolidate into state-like federations.

Between 1850 and 1870, Kyrgyzstan became a subject of the Russian empire. Soviet power was established between November 1917 and June 1918. In 1924, 1926 and 1936, Kyrgyzstan went from the status of autonomous region to autonomous republic and finally to union republic.

The principal events of the period from 1936 to 1991 were victory in the Second World War, the "thaw" under Khruschev, "stagnation" under Brezhnev, the vacillations of perestroika under Gorbachev and the collapse of the totalitarian system.

25. Kyrgyzstan declared its independence on 31 August 1991. In the Declaration on the State independence of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan solemnly proclaimed the country to be an independent sovereign State.

26. Under the Constitution, the Kyrgyz Republic is a sovereign, unitary, democratic Republic and secular State founded on the rule of law.

The sovereignty of the Kyrgyz Republic is not limited and extends to all of its territory. The Kyrgyz people is the repository of sovereignty and the sole source of State power in the Kyrgyz Republic.

Only the elected Zhogorku Kenesh (Parliament) and the President of the Kyrgyz Republic are entitled to speak on behalf of the people of Kyrgyzstan. Amendments and additions to the Constitution, laws and other important issues in the life of the nation, may be put to a referendum.

In its form of government, Kyrgyzstan combines elements of a presidential and a parliamentary republic (presidential-parliamentary republic).

27. The President of the Kyrgyz Republic is the Head of State, the highest official in the country, a symbol of national unity and the guarantor of the Constitution and of human and civil rights and freedoms. The Head of State determines the main lines of the State's domestic and foreign policy, represents the Kyrgyz Republic inside the country and in international relations, adopts measures to preserve the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kyrgyz Republic, safeguards the unity and continuity of State power and ensures the coordination and interaction of State organs and their accountability to the people.

The President of the Kyrgyz Republic is elected for a term of five years. The same person cannot be elected President for more than two consecutive terms. The Presidency must be held by a Kyrgyz citizen over 35 and under 65 years of age who speaks the national language and has been resident in the Republic for at least 15 years prior to nomination for the Presidency.

28. The law on amendment and supplementing of the Kyrgyz Constitution of 17 February 1996, adopted by referendum on 10 February 1996, stipulates that legislative authority in the Kyrgyz Republic shall be exercised by the Zhogorku Kenesh (Parliament), a bicameral representative body comprising the Legislative Assembly, a standing body of 35 elected deputies representing the interests of the population as a whole; and the sessional Assembly of People's Representatives, with 70 elected deputies representing territorial interests.

Deputies of the Legislative Assembly and the Assembly of People's Representatives are elected for a term of five years.

The Legislative Assembly of the Zhogorku Kenesh is responsible for: amending and supplementing the Constitution in line with the prescribed constitutional procedure; enacting laws; giving official interpretations of the Constitution and of the laws which it itself has enacted; modifying the borders of the Kyrgyz Republic; and approving laws enacted by the Assembly of People's Representatives.

29. The Assembly of People's Representatives of the Zhogorku Kenesh is responsible for: amending and supplementing the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic; enacting laws in the cases provided for in the Constitution; approving laws enacted by the Legislative Assembly in the cases specified by the Constitution; giving official interpretations of the Constitution and of the laws which it itself has adopted; passing the budget and certifying the national accounts; and modifying the jurisdiction of municipal and military courts of the Kyrgyz Republic.

30. Article 69 of the Constitution stipulates that executive authority in the Kyrgyz Republic shall be exercised by the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic, its subordinate ministries, State committees and administrative departments and the local State administration.

The Government of the Kyrgyz Republic is the country's highest executive organ. The Government is headed by the Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic and consists of the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Ministers, other ministers and the chairmen of the State Committees of the Kyrgyz Republic.

The Prime Minister is appointed by the President of the Kyrgyz Republic with the consent of the Assembly of People's Representatives.

The Prime Minister determines the main lines of Government policy in accordance with the Constitution, laws and Presidential decrees. He organizes the work of the Government and is personally responsible for its performance.

31. Article 79 of the Constitution stipulates that justice in the Kyrgyz Republic shall be administered solely by the courts.

The following courts exist in the Kyrgyz Republic: the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, the High Court of Arbitration and local courts (regional courts, Bishkek city court, district and municipal courts, regional arbitration courts, Bishkek arbitration courts and military courts).

32. The Constitutional Court of the Kyrgyz Republic is the highest judicial organ for the protection of the Constitution. The Constitutional Court declares laws and other regulatory instruments unconstitutional in cases of discrepancy with the Constitution and settles disputes concerning the operation, application and interpretation of the Constitution. Decisions of the Constitutional Court are final and are not subject to appeal.

33. The Supreme Court of the Kyrgyz Republic is the highest judicial organ for civil, criminal and administrative proceedings. It supervises the legal activity of the regional, Bishkek city and district courts.

34. The High Court of Arbitration of the Kyrgyz Republic and the regional and Bishkek city arbitration courts form a single system of arbitration courts of the Kyrgyz Republic. Arbitration courts settle financial and management disputes between entities under various types of ownership. The High Court of Arbitration supervises the legal activity of the regional and Bishkek arbitration courts.

35. Decisions handed down by the Kyrgyz courts and having acquired legal force are binding upon all State organs, businesses, social organizations, officials and citizens and are subject to execution throughout the territory of Kyrgyzstan. Failure to execute judicial decisions which have acquired legal force or interference in the work of the courts entails liability as specified by law.

36. Law enforcement agencies. The work of the law enforcement agencies is based on unconditional compliance with the laws of the Kyrgyz Republic and with international treaties on citizens' rights, freedoms and lawful interests. Law enforcement in the Kyrgyz Republic is carried out by special organs which include the Office of the Procurator, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and its subsidiary organs, the Ministry of National Security, the Ministry of Justice and lawyers.

37. The Office of the Procurator of the Kyrgyz Republic is a State body within the executive branch which verifies that legislative instruments are strictly and uniformly observed by local self-government bodies, ministries, State committees, administrative departments and other government organs, local State administrations, social organizations, officials, businesses, irrespective of their form of ownership, and citizens.

38. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is an armed State law enforcement body which performs executive and administrative functions connected with the maintenance of public order, the protection of personal and public safety and crime control.

39. The Ministry of Justice is the primary State administrative body for implementing the State's legal policy as regards the protection of the rights and lawful interests of citizens and legal persons, irrespective of their form of ownership.

40. The Ministry of National Security: National security organs are part of the executive branch and their mission is to prevent harm to the security of the Kyrgyz Republic; within the limits of the powers entrusted to them, they ensure personal, public and State security and expose, prevent and suppress espionage and subversion by foreign intelligence services and organizations.

41. Lawyers help to protect the rights and lawful interests of citizens and organizations; they facilitate the administration of justice and the observance and strengthening of the law. They mainly: advise on and elucidate legal matters; represent clients before the courts and other State organs in civil and administrative cases; and draft applications, appeals and other legal documents.

42. No one may be arrested or detained except as prescribed by the law. Any action that tends to attribute guilt for an offence before a verdict has been pronounced by a court is inadmissible and constitutes grounds for the award of material and moral damages to the aggrieved party through the intermediary of the courts.

43. The rules enshrined in the Constitution conform to the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the international covenants and other instruments in the field of human rights. Under national law, all Kyrgyz citizens are equally entitled to the protection of their rights and freedoms without distinction as to their national or social origin, sex, language, political or other opinions, religion, place of residence, property or any other factors. Judicial protection of rights and freedoms is guaranteed: consequently, citizens are entitled to seek redress through the courts if they feel that their rights have been violated.

44. In order to create effective machinery for the protection of human rights and to assist the President in exercising his constitutional powers as guarantor of human and civil rights and freedoms, a Human Rights Commission reporting to the President of the Kyrgyz Republic was set up by presidential decree on 5 July 1997.

The State Commission for the Family and Women, which reports to the Kyrgyz Government, was established in 1996. The Commission is involved in the implementation of priority measures to resolve the most pressing issues facing women and deals with their rights and freedoms.

A Commission for Minors has been established within the Kyrgyz Government. Similar bodies have been formed in the regions.

45. Organs to deal with the problems facing families, women and children operate at all levels in the Kyrgyz Republic. A Human Rights Committee and a Commission on Education, Women, the Family and Youth work within the Legislative Assembly of the Zhogorku Kenesh.

46. A great many non-governmental organizations (over 800) involved in the defence of human rights are currently active in Kyrgyzstan. Many of them provide the public with information about the rights and freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution and international human rights instruments.

47. For the purposes of drafting and submitting to the relevant United Nations bodies Kyrgyzstan's initial reports on legislative, administrative and other measures undertaken by the Government to fulfil international conventions on human rights, the Government issued an ordinance on 27 June 1997 establishing an interdepartmental commission entrusted with the preparation of national reports on Kyrgyzstan's compliance with human rights conventions.

48. The basic law is the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic, adopted by the Zhogorku Kenesh in 1993, as amended and supplemented on 17 February 1996. It contains a special section outlining the rights and freedoms of the individual and the duties of citizens.

49. Article 16 of the Constitution recognizes and guarantees the fundamental human rights and freedoms in accordance with universally accepted principles and rules of international law and the inter-State treaties and agreements on human rights which have been ratified by the Kyrgyz Republic. Every person in the Kyrgyz Republic enjoys the rights to: life, physical and moral immunity; personal freedom and security; free development of the personality; freedom of religion, spiritual life and worship; free expression and dissemination of thoughts, ideas and opinions; freedom of literary, artistic, scientific and technical self-expression; freedom of the press and of transmission and dissemination of information; freedom of movement and to choose one's abode or place of residence anywhere in the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic; freedom to travel abroad and to return without hindrance; freedom of association and of peaceful unarmed assembly, to hold rallies and demonstrations; inviolability of the home; freedom and privacy of correspondence; dignity, freedom in private life and personal and family privacy; private postal, telephone and telegraph communications; the right to own property and to possess, use and administer it at one's own discretion; economic freedom, free use of one's abilities and property for any type of economic activity; freedom of labour and free choice of one's occupation or profession.

The enumeration of rights and freedoms in the Constitution must not be interpreted as negating or diminishing other universally recognized human rights and freedoms.

50. On 12 January 1994, the Zhogorku Kenesh adopted a decision on accession to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which necessitated the adoption of a number of measures to create the legal machinery for implementing the provisions of the Covenant. These measures include the enactment of new laws, the amendment of existing ones and the drafting of regulatory and normative instruments to govern the activities of State organs for the protection of civil and political rights.

51. The Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic stipulates that inter-State treaties and other rules of international law ratified by the Kyrgyz Republic are an integral and directly applicable part of Kyrgyz law. The Kyrgyz Republic recognizes the principles and rules of international law and has signed international treaties and agreements on human rights, which are reflected in domestic legislation. All the necessary steps are being taken to ensure that the law not only proclaims human rights but also protects them.

52. The content of the measures to implement international human rights treaties is set out in the pertinent sections of this report. Draft laws and framework documents which take account of State policy for the protection of civil and political rights have been elaborated.

53. One of the challenges in building a State based on the rule of law in the Kyrgyz Republic is to adopt legislative texts and measures for their application that take account of universally recognized standards in the field of human rights. International human rights instruments are taken into account in elaborating new legislation in Kyrgyzstan. Representatives of international and non-governmental organizations are enlisted as experts when new legislation is being drafted in Kyrgyzstan.

The legal reforms under way in Kyrgyzstan envisage the incorporation of inalienable human rights and the security and legal protection of individuals in new Kyrgyz legislation.

54. The following new laws have been enacted in Kyrgyzstan on the basis of international human rights standards:

content, have been met by the improvement of the overall statutory framework and the adoption of a number of laws and other legal instruments from 1994 to 1997, the system for ensuring the legal protection of citizens is still inadequate. The main reason is that the Kyrgyz Republic still lacks a uniform State policy for the integrated solution of all problems relating to human rights.

56. Since gaining its sovereignty, the Kyrgyz Republic has acceded to 22 international human rights treaties within the framework of the United Nations and its specialized agencies:

4. The Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;

6. The International Labour Organization Convention concerning Equality of Treatment of Nationals and Non-Nationals in Social Security;

7. The International Labour Organization Convention concerning the Establishment of an International System for the Maintenance of Rights in Social Security;

10. The Convention of 18 December 1979 on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (entered into force on 3 September 1981);

11. The Convention of 20 December 1952 on the Political Rights of Women (entered into force on 7 July 1954);

12. The Convention of 7 November 1962 on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages (entered into force on 9 December 1964);

13. The Convention of 29 January 1957 on the Nationality of Married Women (entered into force on 11 August 1958);

14. Convention No. 103 of 28 June 1952 concerning Maternity Protection (revised 1952) (entered into force on 7 September 1955);

15. The International Convention against Apartheid in Sports (entered into force on 10 December 1958);

16. The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (entered into force on 26 June 1987);

17. The Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others;

18. The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (entered into force on 4 January 1969);

19. The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (entered into force on 1 January 1961);

20. The Slavery Convention signed at Geneva on 25 September 1926 and the Protocol amending it (entered into force on 7 December 1953);

21. The Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery (entered into force on 30 April 1957);

22. The International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid.

In addition, Kyrgyzstan is a party to human rights treaties within the framework of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

57. Article 41 of the Constitution states that the publication of laws and other normative instruments concerning the rights, freedoms and duties of individuals and citizens shall be a mandatory condition of their application.

The Kyrgyz Government is endeavouring to raise public awareness on a number of matters relating to the human rights and freedoms guaranteed to citizens under the Constitution and the various international treaties, including the Covenant, to which Kyrgyzstan is a party.

58. Most of the work of disseminating information to the public on the principles and provisions of international human rights instruments is carried out by the Government, the Commission for the Family, Women and Youth, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, the Ministry of Health, the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, other ministries and administrative departments directly concerned and non-governmental organizations.

59. The International Committee of the Red Cross is financing the publication for a mass readership of a textbook entitled Chelovek i obshchestvo (The Individual and Society). In addition to providing essential educational material, it outlines the main concepts of international humanitarian law.

The texts of the international treaties ratified by the Kyrgyz Republic have been published in the Gazette of the Zhogorku Kenesh (Supreme Council).

The texts of all the conventions ratified have been translated into the official State language and the national languages of the Republic (including Russian and Uzbek).

A series of digests on human rights issues has been published in Kyrgyzstan and the compilations of international human rights instruments published by the United Nations have been widely disseminated.

Kyrgyz non-governmental organizations regularly publish newsletters concerning the human rights situation in Kyrgyzstan, for example Sredstva massovoi informatsii: zakonodatelstvo i praktika (The Mass Media: Law and Practice).

60. Human rights are taught in many universities and schools as part of the general education curriculum.

61. To enhance the skills of judges, the Kyrgyz judiciary is engaged in setting up an authority to teach local-court judges how to use modern office equipment, familiarize them with changes in the law, and so on. Efforts are envisaged to acquaint judges with the United Nations treaties ratified by Kyrgyzstan, specifically in the field of human rights.

62. To foster the implementation of the international human rights instruments that have been ratified, seminars are regularly held in Kyrgyzstan for representatives of State organs and of judicial bodies and members of the public. The following seminars may be cited:

- "International human rights standards and their domestic implementation", a seminar organized in Bishkek from 25 to 28 November 1996 by the International Commission of Jurists and the Constitutional Court of the Kyrgyz Republic, with the participation of members of the judiciary, lawyers, representatives of government bodies and non-governmental organizations;

- "Human rights: national institutions and mechanisms", a round table organized in Bishkek on 9 April 1997 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan with the participation of representatives of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Ombudsman of Poland, Kyrgyz government bodies and non-governmental organizations;

- "Journalism and the law", an international seminar held from 22 to 24 April 1997, organized by the Soros-Kyrgyzstan Foundation and the Kyrgyz-American Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law, with special emphasis on protection of the rights of journalists and freedom of the mass media;

- "The constitutional dimension of legal reforms and the legal system", a seminar in Bishkek from 17 to 18 June organized by the Council of Europe together with OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and the Kyrgyz Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Justice;

- A workshop held in Bishkek from 13 to 15 October 1997 on the submission to human rights treaty bodies of State party reports and individual complaints. It was organized jointly by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the International Commission of Jurists and attended by representatives of the government bodies involved in the preparation of reports and of non-governmental organizations.

63. The Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic (art. 15) prohibits discrimination against women in the political, economic, social, cultural and civil spheres.

It is well known, however, that hidden forms of discrimination against women exist in all States, and the Kyrgyz Republic is no exception.

64. Women make up 51 per cent of the population, numbering 2.3 million. According to information from the National Statistics Committee, from 1994 to 1997 the number of permanent residents of the Kyrgyz Republic, disaggregated by sex, was as follows:

	1994	1995	1996	1997
Total population Men and women	4 429.9	4 450.7	4 512.4	4 574.1
Men	2 184.6	2 193.7	2 226.6	2 258.2
% of total	49.3	49.3	49.3	49.4
Women	2 245.3	2 257.0	2 285.8	2 315.9
% of total	50.7	50.7	50.7	50.6

65. Women represent 58 per cent of the total number of persons officially registered as unemployed. There is a particularly acute shortage of jobs in rural areas.

Women's participation in decision-making in the Kyrgyz Republic has greatly decreased since Soviet times, though it remains fairly high according to international experts. Of the 105 deputies in the Zhogorku Kenesh (Parliament), only 4 (4.7 per cent) are women. At the regional level, 14 per cent of the deputies are women.

During privatization, the interests of women were not fully taken into account in the distribution of livestock, land, agricultural inputs and trading posts. According to statistics, 37.9 per cent of the privatized land is in the hands of women farmers, but they lack the necessary agricultural inputs and fertilizer to cultivate it. There are cases of women working with equipment that fails to meet safety standards, and heavy physical labour for women, both in industry and in agriculture, has not become a thing of the past.

Because of the collapse of the Soviet system of health care, education, culture and consumer services and the closure of plants in light industry (cut-backs in the purely feminine spheres of activity) relatively skilled women workers now have to take jobs for unskilled workers that endanger their health (the number of women in small- and medium-sized business, narcotics trafficking and prostitution has increased).

66. Urgent measures have been adopted by the President and the Government to cope with the dramatic decline in the situation of women during the transitional period and to acknowledge the rise of the women's movement.

By Presidential decree, 1996 was proclaimed Women's Year, and in March 1996 a State Committee of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic for the Family, Women and Youth was set up.

67. The State Committee is called upon to carry out policy on the family, women and youth and to interact with ministries, administrative departments, local administrations and social organizations. As part of its activities, the Committee:

- elaborates and applies State and national programmes for gender equity in respect of the family, women and young people and for the overall advancement of young people;

- interacts with other organizations, groups and movements concerned with matters of the family, women and young people;

- cooperates with international organizations and movements which, in the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic, engage in activities relating to the family, women and young people;

- assists non-governmental organizations that work to benefit women and young people.

The State Committee's activities do not duplicate the efforts of social and cultural ministries and departments within the Government. The State Committee is divided into three sections: organization and methodology, information and analysis and young people's affairs. The staff of regional administrations includes specialists on problems experienced by the family, women and young people, but for lack of financial resources, these posts are not remunerated and their incumbents work on a voluntary basis.

Regional Centres for Women's Initiatives were set up in all six regions of the Republic in 1997 on the initiative of the State Committee and with the support of UNDP in order to establish a vertical structure for effective regional resolution of women's problems. The Centres are registered with the Ministry of Justice as non-governmental organizations. They facilitate the regional implementation of the national programme "Ayalzat", promote interdepartmental interaction in the solution of the problems of women, the family and children, establish contacts with international organizations and assist in the work of women's non-governmental organizations, the communities, women entrepreneurs and farmers. Since their establishment, these regional Centres for Women's Initiatives have done good work, submitting yearly reports on their activities to the State Committee.

68. In 1996, the President approved the national programme "Ayalzat", modelled on the Beijing Platform for Action. The Government of the Kyrgyz Republic has adopted a comprehensive plan of measures to carry out the national programme in the years 1997 to 2000. The plan has 11 objectives:

6. Women in power and decision-making at the political, legislative and executive levels;

The measures planned in each of these areas are divided into immediate- and long-term solutions to problems and the partners are indicated (ministries, departments, regional administrations, non-governmental organizations). The programme is not immutable, but is refined as the yearly plan is developed and immediate tasks carried out, taking into account not only the experience gained with the plan itself but also the inputs of regional State administrations, ministries and departments and the views of non-governmental organizations for women and young people and of international organizations working for the advancement of women, the family and young people. The funding required for each measure is indicated during the elaboration of the yearly plan. The plan for the current year, 1998, was adjusted and new objectives relating to young people were added.

69. Against the backdrop of democratic transformation in Kyrgyzstan, activism in the women's movement was intensified. According to data from the Ministry of Justice, there are currently more than 70 women's non-governmental organizations, 20 of them in rural areas. They work on various issues but have a single goal: the advancement of women, children and the elderly, defence of the social rights of women and helping women adapt to the market economy.

The State Committee for the Family, Women and Youth has close ties with many women's non-governmental organizations and carries out activities in conjunction with them. The problems of women in rural areas are addressed through the regional Centres for Women's Initiatives.

70. The Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic guarantees equality of men and women and prohibits discrimination and violation of rights and freedoms on grounds of sex (art. 15, para. 3). Article 22 of the Constitution provides for the application of the laws on the rights of citizens equally to all citizens, with no privileges or preferences except those provided for by the Constitution and the legislation on social protection.