Visit of the UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls to Kyrgyzstan

Visit of the UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls to Kyrgyzstan

On April 15, 2022, the visit of the UN working group on discrimination against women and girls ended. As part of a 12-day mission to Kyrgyzstan, a delegation of experts consisting of Melissa Upreti and Elizabeth Broderick held meetings in Bishkek, Issyk-Kul and Osh regions.

Final remarks

In recent decades, Kyrgyzstan has made progress in introducing new laws and institutional measures aimed at ensuring gender equality. The conceptualization of key legal concepts such as ‘discrimination’, ‘gender violence’ and ‘structural Ural inequality’ should be geared towards responding to the realities of women’s lives.

We encourage the collection of sex-disaggregated data to support evidence-based policy. The current legal, policy and institutional framework must be changed to be more oriented towards women and girls, who are systematically disadvantaged by a number of factors, including persistent gender stereotypes, rising poverty, pervasive violence, and extremist religious views on the role of women in society.

We call on the government to urgently prioritize the enactment of all relevant laws, institutions and mechanisms established to promote gender equality by strengthening the capacity of civil servants in all branches of government and law enforcement, from national to local, through increased transparency and coordination and ensuring adequate public funding.To accelerate progress towards gender equality, we urge additional temporary special measures focusing on achieving economic equality for women and building an education system that promotes respect for human rights, gender equality and civic responsibility.