[women-rights] Kyrgyzstan: Bride-kidnapping, domestic abuse rampant

Despite Progressive Laws, Violence Against Women Goes Unpunished

(Bishkek, September 27, 2006) -- Kyrgyzstan's government is allowing
domestic violence and the abduction of women for forced marriage to
continue with impunity, Human Rights Watch said today in its first report
on human rights violations in this Central Asian country.

"Police in Kyrgyzstan have an obligation to ensure that perpetrators of
domestic violence and bride-kidnapping are brought to justice," said Holly
Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "But more
often than not, they simply don’t treat these as serious crimes."

The 140-page report, "Reconciled to Violence: State Failure to Stop
Domestic Abuse and Abduction of Women in Kyrgyzstan
(http://hrw.org/reports/2006/kyrgyzstan0906/)," concludes that although
Kyrgyzstan has progressive laws on violence against women, police and
other authorities fail to implement them. As a result, women remain in
danger and without access to justice.

Based on in-depth, firsthand interviews with victims of violence, the
report tells the stories of women who have been kicked, strangled, beaten,
stabbed and sexually assaulted by their husbands. The report also tracks
what happens when women seek help from the authorities. Instead of
attaining safety and access to justice, they are encouraged to reconcile
with their abusers.

A 38-year-old woman, "Elmira E." told Human Rights Watch about being
beaten by her husband for years and hospitalized, once for a knife wound
and another time for a concussion after he kicked her in the head. "The
situation was so bad that I thought it would be better if he killed me,"
she said.

Women suffer serious and permanent injury from domestic violence, and many
are emotionally traumatized by the abuse, even years later. Left with
nowhere to go and no access to police protection, many women lose hope.

The report also examines the controversial issue of "bride-kidnapping," or
abduction for forced marriage. Women and girl victims of bride-kidnapping
describe being grabbed, forced into cars, isolated and in some cases raped
by their abductors.

"Many Kyrgyz officials portray bride-kidnapping as a harmless ritual, a
voluntary practice. But women all over the country paint a very different
picture," said Acacia Shields, senior researcher and author of the report.
"Abduction for forced marriage is a violent and traumatic experience that
involves taking a woman against her will. It’s a serious crime, and
police need to start treating it that way."

Despite government claims that abduction of women by complete strangers is
rare, many women told Human Rights Watch that they were kidnapped by men
they did not know. In other cases, acquaintances use deception to kidnap a
woman -- often inviting her to a party or offering her a ride home from
school, and then shuttling her off without warning to the home of her
abductor.

Seventeen-year-old "Feruza F." was raped on her wedding night by her
abductor, a stranger until that day: "He forced me to have sex with him
the first night. A woman came to say that they'd prepared my bed; I
thought I'd be alone. I lay down to sleep, then he came in and he forced
himself on me and raped me. I was saying no and he still did it. I cried
and screamed...There were other times, too, when he raped me. I didn't
ever want to go to sleep."

Human Rights Watch challenged the government of President Kurmanbek Bakiev
to make ending violence against women a priority. The report called on the
government to implement its domestic violence law, including by issuing
guidelines for protection orders and directing police to enforce such
orders. It also called on the government to enforce existing criminal laws
against assault and abduction and to prosecute perpetrators of domestic
violence and kidnapping to the fullest extent of the law.

Kyrgyzstan's international donors should increase financial and technical
assistance to civil society organizations providing services to women and
girls who have suffered violence.

"A strong and sustained international focus on this issue, coupled with
concrete support, is needed if we are to see real improvement in the lives
of women in Kyrgyzstan," said Cartner.

Human Rights Watch Press release