Synopsis "Kyrgyz Republic: Human Rights"
The Kyrgyz Republic has a parliamentary form of government intended to limit presidential power and enhance the role of parliament and the prime minister. Voters elected the parliament in 2010 and the president a year later. In the 2011 presidential election, Almazbek Atambayev, then serving as prime minister, received 63 percent of the vote. Independent observers considered the election generally transparent and competitive, despite some irregularities. Atambayev's election marked the first peaceful transfer of power in the country's 20-year history. The current three-party majority coalition in parliament dates from August 2012. Authorities failed at times to maintain effective control over the security forces, particularly in the South, where there were instances in which elements of the security forces committed human rights abuses. The most important human rights problems included abuses related to continued ethnic tensions in the South; denial of due process and lack of accountability in judicial and law enforcement proceedings, as well as law enforcement officials' use of arbitrary arrest; and various forms of domestic violence, mistreatment, torture, and extortion against all demographic groups, particularly against ethnic Uzbeks. The following additional human rights problems existed: poor prison conditions; lack of judicial impartiality; harassment of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), activists, and journalists; pressure on independent media; restrictions on religious freedom; authorities' failure to protect refugees adequately; pervasive corruption; discrimination and violence against women, persons with disabilities, ethnic and religious minorities, and persons based on their sexual orientation or gender identity; child abuse; trafficking in persons; and child labor. Underscoring the country's human rights problems was an atmosphere of impunity for officials in the security services and elsewhere in the government committing abuses and engaged in corrupt practices. This situation reflected the central government's inability to hold human rights violators accountable, allowing security forces to act arbitrarily, emboldening law enforcement officials to prey on vulnerable citizens, and allowing mobs to disrupt trials by attacking defendants, attorneys, witnesses, and judges.
