PUBLIC CALL FROM BIR BUINO KYRGYZSTAN

To Maripov U.A., Prime-Minister of the KR

Dear Ulukbek Asamidinovich,

We have carefully reviewed the 100-day Plan of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic. We welcome the new steps to improve social and economic situation of the country.

We hope that you will take into consideration the recommendations that concern vulnerable groups of citizens who have been waiting for years, since the revolutions, decision-making process one the part of new authorities, with equal participation of activists from the communities to the national levels.

We hope that you have been informed that the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic presented a Voluntary National Review on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the first time, in July 2020. The NGO group presented their shadow report, which includes key priority recommendations taking into account new risks and disasters, including the pandemic.

Today, citizens of the Kyrgyz Republic are concerned about following issues: How the new Government of the Kyrgyz Republic will ensure a safety of citizens, taking into account lessons learnt and high mortality rates during the 2020 pandemic; will a new Action Plan for emergencies, including new types of pandemic, be presented to the public; how will the systemic risks and conflicts be resolved in the risk areas where people live? These are 92 uranium sites, and the most dangerous is Mailuu Suu city, which is listed among 10 dangerous places in the world. What is the map of opportunities and resources for solving systemic problems, and what are the new strategies to ensure public safety and prevention of risks and disasters in Kyrgyzstan?

How will an equal access to information, both to the government’s aid programs and international projects on disaster mitigation, be provided for people living in risk and disaster areas, from the community level to the level of key decision makers?

How will the key Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Kyrgyz Republic work, will it be open and accountable to the public, practicing broad participation of the mass media and civil society, and will the information on resources, both technical and human, be available to prevent disasters and emergences, jointly prepare and implement the new Action plan for prevention of risks, disasters and emergencies in the Kyrgyz Republic?

You noted very well about ensuring safety of business. We would recommend to separately consider activities to inform population, local authorities and business structures about responsibility of the government and business to respect citizens' rights in order to take into account both environmental and social risks and prevention of human rights and freedoms, and equal access to information and resources, with broad coverage of new principles of following UN Business and Human Rights Guidelines by business structures.

We kindly request you to focus attention on labor inequality and importance of partnership of government and business with independent trade unions to protect the rights of workers, living in the Kyrgyz Republic and abroad. It is important to urgently abolish the list of prohibited professions for women.

In 2000, the Government of the KR introduced the list of professions, which directly prohibits women from working and studying a whole range of professions. Thus, the labor rights were violated, and  the choice of profession and education, enshrined and guaranteed in the Constitution,  was limited.

We also request you to pay attention to the systemic policy of inequality in pension policy of the Kyrgyz Republic. We hope that soon you will start a pension reform to eliminate the systemic corruption policy of injustice and discrimination of the rights of older citizens.

We draw your attention to corruption and inefficiency of the budgetary policy of the Kyrgyz Republic. We have previously raised the issues of budget inequality and discrimination, as the availability of extra-budgetary funds administered by Speaker of the KR Parliament, Prime Minister of the KR, and President of the KR is a mechanism of discrimination, inefficiency and corruption, it contributes to division of public funds and is a bad practice and ineffectiveness of disbursement of  the national budget of the Kyrgyz Republic. The time has come to reform the rules established for formation, effective distribution and use of budgetary funds to solve acute socially significant problems of the society.

Regarding optimization of the governing institutions of the Kyrgyz Republic, we welcome steps to reform the executive branch and move away from the bureaucratic system. We hope that the successful institutions, such as the National Center for the Prevention of Torture of the KR and State Agency for Local Self-Governance and Inter-Ethnic Relations of the KR, will be supported by the new government, and a mutually beneficial partnership will be strengthened to eradicate the acts of torture and inhuman treatment on the part of law enforcement agencies towards citizens, and their real reform will begin with equal participation of civil society. We are confident that time has come for the development of interethnic policy within the framework of the international obligations assumed by the Kyrgyz Republic in capacity of the UN and OSCE member.

In conclusion, we would recommend you to provide an overview of the implementation of international obligations and views of the UN Human Rights Committee in relation to victims of torture, restoration of their rights and payment of compensations to them in accordance with your authority, following the constitutional Law "On the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic". We would like to stress out that you are accountable for the implementation of these KR obligations to the public and international community, including adherence to the principles of the constitutional reform.

We wish you good luck in development of partnerships with the civil society of the Kyrgyz Republic, we are ready to support the implementation of your initiatives and obligations.

Respectfully, Team and Director of Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan.

Tolekan Ismailova

www.birduino.kg

e-mail: birduinokyrgyzstan@gmail.com