The hotline phone rings every five minutes at Women Crisis Center “Sezim” (which means “feeling” in Kyrgyz). Each woman who calls has a story to tell – either kidnapped, beaten, pregnant for the fifth time trying to give birth to a baby boy pressured by the family of the her husband or just upset – they all are listened to by the psychologists working in the center. There are only seven women working full-time in the Center and they are proud that the hotline works 24 hours a day without holidays. “Most of the calls happen to occur on weekends and at night time when women have no other place to turn to”, says Natalia Pavlova, Center’s psychotherapist. “Sezim” also provides free legal aid for the victims of violence and women in trouble, participates in international campaigns against violence and promotes violence-free society through various activities.

Women’s organizations like “Sezim” started to emerge in Kyrgyzstan in 1995 when Kyrgyzstan presented its report on CEDAW and President Akaev started a new national program for gender equality. Since then the country has over 500 officially registered women’s NGOs. Most of them state “gender equality” as an ultimate goal and “provide assistance to women in need”. Human rights organizations in Kyrgyzstan are mostly pre-occupied with political and civil freedoms which are constantly violated by the government authorities. Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan has inherited many of the Soviet policies and human rights activists are still those who stand up in opposition to the government. Soviet Union encouraged women’s participation in politics (there were quotas for women in the legislative bodies) and punished the exercise of the Kyrgyz traditional practices – such as polygamy, bride-kidnapping and customary inheritance laws. However, after the collapse of Soviet Union, the new government was not able to keep up with the restrictions and allowed re-emergence of most of the traditions. Along with a major political crisis, an economic crisis followed. Many men lost jobs and turned to alcohol for refuge and women were the ones to start selling different goods at bazaars, which helped to sustain large families.

Present-day Kyrgyzstan has improved its legal framework by adopting a law “On domestic violence” which allows police to issue a warrant which could keep an abuser away from the family for a certain time. The implementation phase of this law has not started yet, therefore, it is difficult to evaluate how effective it is, but at least an effort was made. This bill was initiated by women’s organization and is the only one time in the history of independent Kyrgyzstan that over 30,000 citizens supported a bill and made it applicable for the Parliament. However, there are traditional practices that are violence-based. Bride-kidnapping is a tradition which allows the groom not to pay the dowry. When a man wishes to marry a certain girl, he has to pay kalym (either money or cattle stock) to the parents of the girl. Very few men pay kalym, but kidnap the girl instead. The kidnapped girl does not usually know the man to whose house she was brought, while his whole family is waiting for the new bride to stay with them. If the girl wants to leave, the mother of the man lays down on the doorstep and the girl has to step over her which traditionally means committing a sin. If a girl stayed in the house overnight, she is considered to be “impure” and has to either marry or be a shame for her family for the rest of her life. Rapes in bride kidnapping happen occasionally. There is an article in the Criminal Code which gives over 2 years of imprisonment for bride kidnapping but there are very few cases when women have turned to courts.

“Sezim” helped some of the kidnapped women to file cases at courts but most cases were withdrawn under the pressure of the families from both sides, victims and the abusers. Bride kidnapping is common for rural areas and in Kyrgyzstan “to be kidnapped” is one of the best wishes for girls over 15 years old. While “Sezim” deals with the consequences of violence, the problem is addressed by a student group of Amnesty International based in Bishkek. This group educates rural teenagers about human rights, gender issues and sexual health through its “Youth Empowerment Project”. The project is aimed at encouraging gender-sensitive attitudes in teenagers and promoting activism. The gender issues class uses a role-play method for teaching about kidnapping. The scenario is common and most of the participants are familiar with it. But instead of a girl, a boy is kidnapped. He is faced with all the pressures of the large girl family when his mother-in-law scolds him to stay and his own mom is crying that he would be a sin for the family if he does not. Then the situation is discussed and all the feelings analyzed by each party involved. Many boys who participate in the exercise are very touched by what happened to them and say that they will not want to put any girl through such a procedure. As they are also taught human rights, they analyze which rights of the girl bride-kidnapping violates. The group has been very successful in implementing the project. So far 9 schools and 250 rural teenagers have been educated in Kyrgyzstan by 30 youth trainers. The summer camps for 250 more teenagers are now planned and implemented. Children learn to conduct campaigns on human rights issues and maintain Amnesty International groups in their schools.

People do not speak of human rights during the discussions; they talk about peace in their families and simple human feelings. Neither is human rights directly addressed in the court when a kidnapped or raped woman wants to file a case. Despite the fact that Kyrgyz Constitution puts international law and UN conventions over the laws of the country, they are not observed and neither referred to. Human rights education seems to be the only way to make people familiar with the concept.