In recent times domestic violence has become a pressing concern in Kyrgyzstan. There is a question, if this phenomenon has only been recently increased, or have we just discovered previously unseen challenges that rooted in mentality of the Kyrgyz people? How lawmakers do respond to egregious cases of violence against women and girls? Are there gaps in implementing laws and how to fulfill them?

We attempted to answer these questions in our interview with Natalia Nikitenko, the Member of the Jogorku Kenesh and initiator of amendments to Article 504 Criminal Procedure Code of the Kyrgyz Republic. According to these amendments, the Law Enforcement Agencies may now detain a suspect of domestic violence for up to 48 hours. These amendments were implemented by the Parliamentary Working Group with the support of Spotlight Initiative to strengthen the protection of survivors of domestic violence.

- Natalia Vladimirovna, please, tell us more about the new law? According to your opinion, how it will enhance the protection from domestic violence?

- As a matter of fact the situation with domestic violence remained complex for many years. However, this challenge was of latent due to the lack of general statistics. We observed it after introducing the Unified Register of Crimes and Misdemeanours (ERPP), which records the cases of domestic violence and identifies the victims and witnesses. Owing to ERPP, we now have more visible statistics. However, these are only the cases when people appeal to law enforcement agencies, where photos and videos in social networks and media reports are in place. However, there are still many hidden cases of violence and they remain unaddressed.

“Extensive public awareness-raising efforts are required to develop zero-tolerance to violence without excuses and evasions”

The declared state of emergency roused the hidden “epidemic”, when people remained in enclosed space and domestic violence became more frequent. Therefore, we now have to mobilize all available resources and channel them towards combating domestic violence. We are to instill zero-tolerance towards violence in society so to eliminate any excuses or evasions. It is equally important to demonstrate political well in the country to stop domestic violence. There is ongoing work in this relation now; we develop plans, projects and initiatives, which are not enough. 

“In the past, there were no legal norms to immediately isolate the perpetrator from victim. According to new norm, the law enforcement agencies may detain a suspect if he poses a threat to injured party”

In addition to legal norms adopted earlier by the Parliament, we, women – Members of Parliament introduced the restrictive measures against suspects of domestic violence. This measure becomes effective if a suspect of violence is under the influence of alcohol or drugs and / or poses a physical threat to victim. In this case, the law enforcement agencies may take the perpetrator away with the right to detain him for up to 48 hours in order to protect the victim. They may be held at police detention facilities and any other facilities under authority of law enforcement agencies.

When drafting the law, we hold consultations with women’s organizations and those working on gender, with law enforcement agencies and international institutions. I can say the amendments to the law were adopted as soon as practicable due to pressing problems linked to quarantine.

- It is good to have such laws and amendments adopted, but how are the implemented in practice?

- I agree that a large number of laws are adopted, but the quality of their implementation is not always at appropriate level. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate the impact of any legal act and for these purposes we have a long-invented tool - monitoring and evaluation. M&E of laws enables us to continuously receive information on their implementation and somewhere adjust the decisions, if they function inadequately.

“Monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of laws is necessary to make the Parliament work more effective. We lack experts in this area. We have evaluation outcomes, but often we receive them from international organizations” 

We have tested M&E element in the frame of Kyrgyzstan laws “On the prevention of offenses” and “On the safeguard and protection from domestic violence”. We examined the assessment outcomes and prepared numerous amendments. I believe this practice would enable the Jogorku Kenesh to be more efficient in performing its legislative and oversight functions. As for the current amendment, it is too early to make any conclusion as only two months have passed since their adoption. We need the law to work a little and only then we may evaluate subject to availability of sufficient evidenced-based data.

- How else we can optimize the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic in order to prevent domestic violence?

- Now there is a draft law under consideration that provides for an increase in liability if violence is committed by relatives. The bill is undergoing the second reading and I hope we can resume its discussion in autumn.

“It requires a comprehensive state policy and prevention of domestic violence through informing the public, showing films and series calling for zero tolerance towards gender-based violence in state-owned media”

Generally speaking, we need a unified and integrated state policy to put an end to domestic violence. We should work with the population and inform them that domestic violence is not acceptable. We need to broadcast films and series on state-owned media channels related to zero-tolerance to violence. It is not the case now. Conversely, we can witness how some state-owned media promote violence and bride-kidnapping through videos and other products. We, as MPs, criticize such phenomena and call to follow the single state policy in the field of preventing and combating domestic violence.

We are now preparing the new version of the Law “On the Prevention of offenses in the Kyrgyz Republic”. I believe this is an additional very important and significant step towards reducing crimes, including domestic and gender-based violence in the Kyrgyz Republic.

“The State must provide comprehensive support to crisis centers for victims of domestic and gender-based violence against women”

In conclusion, I would like to add that due to the support of donors and international community we have functioning crisis centers in the country, which are an important element to assist victims of violence. The Ministry of labor and social development supports some of them, but it requires much more support of that kind. Crisis centers should firstly rely on the assistance by the State, and not on non-governmental organizations. Indeed, practice shows the higher need of such centers, however they are poorly covered.

The Sate today has an important and larger objective - to increase the amount of information on combating domestic violence, support crisis centers and elaborate a single gender policy and, in cooperation with international community and civil society sector to actively advocate for the protection of women from domestic and gender-based violence.

Article by Chyntemir Kalbaev Communications Assistant, UNDP Country Office in Kyrgyzstan