While Kyrgyzstan has made significant progress in strengthening protection against domestic and family violence, challenges remain, he said. UN News during the recent session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) at UN Headquarters in New York, where representatives from more than 100 countries discuss access to justice and the protection of women’s rights.
“My work has been related to the very topic discussed in this session for more than 30 years,” said Ryskulova, who was the only civil society representative in a “very strong delegation” that included the deputy prime minister, the ombudsman, the deputy prosecutor general, the Supreme Court and several ministries.
“For me, it’s an opportunity to see how other countries work,” he said. “At home you hear a lot of criticism, but the comparison still puts things in perspective.”
‘I knew how deep our problems were’
Ms. Ryskulova said she “came into this by accident,” explaining that her decision to pursue this work was inspired by a previous visit to the United States in 1998, when an exchange program took her to seven states to learn ways to address domestic violence.
“I saw for the first time how a support system really works,” Ryskulova said. “At home, no one talked about these issues out loud. When they started teaching us what a public organization is, what an NGO (non-governmental organization) is, I was learning like a schoolgirl. It was all new and very interesting. But even then, I knew how deep our problems were.”
‘Regress’ of women’s rights
One of the first crisis centers in the region, Sezim was founded in 1998, at a time when the very idea of helping survivors of violence was new in the country.
Even today, talking openly about domestic violence can be difficult, Ryskulova said.
“In the early 1990s, there was a noticeable increase in religiosity and sometimes people interpret many issues through the lens of religion,” he said. “For example, in the village where I’m from, there is one school and two mosques. So talking about violence can still be difficult, and in some areas of women’s rights, there has been some setback.”
difficult start
The first few days were incredibly difficult, especially when the first hotline was launched, he said.
“When we opened the hotline, we sat there waiting. Will anyone call? And for a long time, no one did,” he recalled.
“When the first call finally came, they said, ‘Take it.’ I had almost no experience. My hands were shaking, but that’s how we started.”
Bübüsara Ryskulova, honorary president of the Sezim Crisis Center.
The progress is undeniable
The progress is undeniable. The professional landscape is slowly changing. While in the early 1990s the country had almost no practicing psychologists, many universities now train them.
Following a civil society campaign and a major petition campaign, in 2003 Kyrgyzstan became one of the first post-Soviet countries to adopt a law on family violence, and legislative updates were adopted in 2017.
“At the legislative level, we really can’t complain,” Ryskulova said.
“But the law is one thing and its application another. That’s why we now work more on the ground, protecting specific people. We have a shelter and our specialists have been working for more than 30 years. I myself obtained a second degree as a practical psychologist and today I often represent the interests of survivors in court. Our law allows this, through a power of attorney, even if you are not a lawyer.”
Sometimes, he says, these cases gain notoriety and help boost the system.
“In recent years, our organization has handled about 40 court cases, and almost 90 percent of the decisions were in favor of the survivors. They were very difficult cases (including) murders and rapes. We worked on them and then raised public awareness. If a woman does not want publicity, we protect her anonymity completely.”
Address threats such as sexual slavery
International cooperation, including UN agencies, played an important role in the development of crisis centers in Kyrgyzstan, with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) being one of its first partners.
“That’s where I first heard the term ‘sexual slavery,’” he said.
“Then we opened a hotline specifically for that issue. I remember one of the first girls was underage and pregnant. I found her at the airport myself. She said she didn’t want to live, that she would end her life if the baby was born. We had to take turns sitting next to her hospital bed so she wouldn’t hurt herself.”
Helping survivors requires daily effort
Today, Sezim continues to work with UN agencies such as the UN refugee agency, UNHCR and UN Women.
“For us this is very important for sharing knowledge, training specialists and joint projects,” Ryskulova said. “Platforms like the Commission on the Status of Women provide the opportunity to see what is happening in the world and understand what we still need to learn.”
Despite decades of work and visible progress, she is sure of one thing: helping survivors still requires daily effort.
“Seminars and training are important and prevention is important,” he said, “but if even one person who has suffered remains unprotected, then we still haven’t done everything we need to do.”