HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE CONCLUDES REVIEW OF INITIAL REPORT OF KYRGYZSTAN, OFFERS PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS

Press Release
HR/CT/571

HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE CONCLUDES REVIEW OF INITIAL REPORT OF KYRGYZSTAN, OFFERS PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS

GENEVA, 12 July (UN Information Service) -- The Human Rights Committee this morning completed its consideration of an initial report presented by the Government of Kyrgyzstan on that country's efforts to implement the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

In preliminary observations and recommendations, Committee Chairperson Cecilia Medina Quiroga said there was enormous concern about the fate of persons on death row once the moratorium on the death penalty had expired. It was not clear how the Government intended to solve this problem. Although capital punishment for women had been abolished, the same should be done for men, she said.

Formal, written conclusions and recommendations on the report of Kyrgyzstan will be issued towards the end of the Committee's three-week session on 2 June.

The report was introduced yesterday morning by a five-member government delegation. These officials, led by Chubak Abyshkaev, General Prosecutor of the Kyrgyz Republic, were on hand for one and a half days to discuss the document and to answer questions put by Committee members.

As one of the 145 States parties to the Covenant, Kyrgyzstan must submit periodic reports on the measures taken by the Government to put the provisions of the treaty into effect.

The Committee will reconvene at 3 p.m. in private session to consider communications received from individuals claiming that their rights under the Covenant were violated by their respective States. Only States parties which recognized the competence of the Committee to receive communications under the first Optional Protocol are concerned by that procedure. At 10 a.m. on Thursday, 13 July, the Committee will discuss its general comments before taking up the second periodic report of Ireland at 3 p.m.

Discussion

Committee experts continued to put questions to the delegation on such issues as freedom of expression; the status of women and whether or not mosques were open to them; the Government's role in monitoring religions; the prohibition of discrimination against disabled persons; the role of the private sector in the broadcasting system; the contribution of non-governmental organizations (NGOs); and election procedures, among other things.

- 2 - Press Release HR/CT/571 12 July 2000

Answering questions raised by Committee experts, the members of the Kyrgyz delegation said the Communist party was still in power and the discussions on a multi-party system had continued after the recent elections. Some members of political parties had been barred from participation in the elections because of their propagation for ethnic hatred, which was prohibited by law.

The elections had provided the possibility for all ethnic minorities to take part in the process and many of their representatives were elected to serve in national and regional legislative bodies. All the elections held so far had been fair, and equal radio timing had been given to all candidates wishing to introduce their election programmes.

The population was not aware of the provisions of the Covenant, the delegation said. In response, the Government was exerting additional efforts to increase public awareness about international conventions and the rights enshrined in them. When the country celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child last year, people were happy to participate in the celebration.

The democratization process in Kyrgyzstan was moving swiftly and in the right direction, the delegation said. While some neighbouring countries were shifting to totalitarian tendencies, Kyrgyzstan was moving towards a promising democratic system.

With regard to the status of sects, contrary to the Soviet system, there was no legal provision either admitting or rejecting their existence, the delegation said. Nevertheless, there were religious minorities which the Government had been dealing with concerning their role in the society.

Prohibition of assembly or demonstration was a crime and it was against the spirit of democracy, the delegation said. No groups of citizens were prohibited from holding demonstrations or assembling in public places. The country's Constitution guaranteed the rights to association and assembly to all citizens.

In some areas where the Orthodox Christian religion was dominant, there had been conflicts with the Muslim community due to the construction of mosques, the delegation said. Some Orthodox officials refused to authorize the building of mosques in their areas. The majority of the Kyrgyz population was believed to follow the Sunni denomination of the Islamic religion.

More and more religious officials were advocating for women to pray together with men and to be admitted in mosques, the delegation said. In some mosques, women were allowed to pray in a special section, separated from men.

Asked if the Government was aware of the existence of any school of terrorism in its territory, the delegation said that there was no such school in the country. Instead, the Government was taking preventive measures against the threat of terrorism. The existence of terrorist training centres in Afghanistan was evident.

- 3 - Press Release HR/CT/571 12 July 2000

Concerning the dissemination of information through the Internet, the delegation said that there was a delay and technical problems in expanding the capacity. Russian was used in disseminating information, but it was not wholly understood by all people.

Preliminary Observations and Recommendations

In brief preliminary observations and recommendations, Committee Chairperson Cecilia Medina Quiroga said, among other things, that the Committee understood the problems faced by the Government of Kyrgyzstan during its present transitional period to democracy. She said the rank of the Covenant within domestic legislation was not clear; and there was confusion concerning the place of the Covenant and implementation of its provisions by courts.

Ms. Quiroga said that there had been another problem concerning the implementation of the Covenant: the delegation had said that the Constitutional Court could receive complaints of infringement of the rights under the Covenant; but no such complaint had been received so far; and if the Covenant was not a constitutional right, then some special place had to be given to it.

Concerning the state of emergency, Ms. Quiroga said she was not clear on whether there was a law stipulating that the fundamental rights were not derogated in the time of states of emergency.

The status of women was not clearly defined in the report, she said. The use of the intellectual potential of the female population was essential; and much stronger action by the Government was necessary to repeal all discriminatory laws concerning women.

There was enormous concern about the fate of persons on death row once the moratorium on capital punishment expired, Ms. Quiroga said. How the Government intended to solve the problem was not clear. Although the death penalty for women had been abolished, the same should be done equally for men, she said.

Ms. Quiroga affirmed that freedom of opinion and expression were the basic principles for a democratic society; however, the closure of newspapers under the pretext of tax evasion was incompatible with those principles.

* *** *