ORAL PRESENTATION

TO THE UN COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

PRE-SESSION ON KYRGYZSTAN, June 8th 2004, Geneva

Mr. Chairman,

Distinguished Members of the Committee,

The Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights and the World Organisation Against Torture have submitted an alternative report focusing on the implementation of articles  19, 37  and 40 of the CRC.

As the report produced by the national coalition of NGOs highlighted many of the aspects that we covered, I would just like to make a few complementary points and give examples.

On the issue of discrimination, our report emphasises the situation of girls. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has stated that “the situation of girls is particularly alarming, as their access to education is being curtailed by a revival of the tradition of early marriage, and a decrease in the prestige of having a formal education”[1]. Article 18 of the Marriage and Family Code allows marriage from the age of 17 for girls. But the Penal Code only guarantees protection from early marriage and abduction of girls under the age of 16[2]. Hence, in our opinion, the legislation is not only discriminatory but also contradictory in its efforts to protect girls. We would therefore recommend the Committee to urge the government of Kyrgyzstan to extend the protection of girls from early marriage and abduction up to the age of 18.

On the issue of torture, the “law on the protection of the rights of minors”, specifies that “interrogation of child suspects cannot last for more than two hours without a break, and no more than four hours a day in the most difficult cases[3].” Such protection sounds most worrying. It allows for the use of excessive psychological pressure during interrogation. The status of the lawyer is not specified. In addition, it does not refer to due access to a medical doctor or to any possibilities of communicating with the family. Indeed, back in 2000, the Committee had already expressed concerns that “the militia often do not notify parents of arrests, and that often neither parents nor lawyers are present during questioning of juveniles”[4].

In practice, several cases of torture and child abuse committed by state agents have been reported in the local media over the past years. Criminal investigations were undertaken concerning some of these cases but most of them are either not investigated or abandoned.

- For instance, the complaint of the juvenile detainee Andrei Polkovnikov which was taken up by OMCT and the country mission of the OHCHR, was closed. Polkovnikov was convicted, although evidence against him was obtained by force. He later testified at a seminar on torture where the Kyrgyzstan Presidential Office promised to exercise special control of his particular case. However, the torturers remain unpunished.

- In other cases, depsite parents’ direct intervention, police officers continue to abuse their power. The case of Natalya Iede is particularly disturbing. As she tried to protect her 9 year old daughter and 10 year old son from being forced to confess a petty theft back in 1998, she was accused of having received the money stolen by her son and was held for several months in pre-trial detention.

- In many other instances, police officers are simply abusing or ill-treating children as part of their overall misbehaviour, often under the influence of alcohol. Such misbehaviour has in some instances gone as far as rape or severe wounding of children.

- Finally, during the Aksy event of 2002, some children were not simply beaten up. They were reportedly stripped naked and showered with ice-cold water during hours and beaten systematically with a stick in order to confess.

We are very concerned about the impunity enjoyed by perpetrators of such acts of torture, and about the absence of efficient prevention and protection mechanisms, as well as political will, to fully respect the rights of children alleged or suspected of being in conflict with the law. We recommend the Committee to take a very strong stand against the government and request that it takes all necessary measures, including immediate suspension and strong sanctions against perpetrators.

Finally, we would like to highlight that the arbitrary arrest of street children is not an occasional or isolated phenomenon, but rather a systematic policy of so-called "Teenager" operations by which hundreds of children are arrested and delivered to the Bishkek juvenile rehabilitation centre, where they reportedly do not receive any substantial support towards reintegration. We would therefore recommend the Committee to ask the government to put a stop to police raids against street children and transfer child protection mandates from the police to newly trained street educators, integrated into an overall juvenile justice and child protection reform process, based on the best interests of the child and on international standards and norms.

Thank you

[1] ESCR Kyrgyzstan.. E/C.12/1/Add.49, para. 23

[2] State Party report, CRC/C/104/Add.4, ibid, p. 13 para.27.

[3] State Party report, CRC/C/104/Add.4, ibid, p.23  para.55.

[4] UN Committee on  the Rights of the Child, CRC/C/15/Add.127., ibid. Para 61.