A/HRC/46/57/Add.1 24. The Special Rapporteur also shares the concerns expressed by other United Nations mechanisms that the mandate and operations of the Office of the Ombudsperson are not in compliance with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles). The Special Rapporteur has concerns as to the low number of complaints of discrimination on the grounds of religion, language or ethnicity submitted to the Office. It was intimated during his visit that this may in part be due to the perceived lack of sufficient institutional resources and to limited powers to carry out the mandate of the Ombudsperson. 25. In the opinion of the Special Rapporteur, and as expressed to him during his visit, legislation is needed to bring the Office of the Ombudsperson into compliance with the Paris Principles. The Government of Kyrgyzstan should also take effective measures to raise awareness about the work of the Office and about the complaint mechanism available to minorities for complaints of ethnic, religious or linguistic discrimination. Finally, the Office should also be assured the necessary resources to discharge its role. C. Statelessness 26. Kyrgyzstan, it is worth repeating, is a trendsetter in tackling statelessness and almost completely ending it in the country. However, there are concerning legislative developments that need to be addressed, such as the 2016 amendments to the 2007 Law on Citizenship enabling the revocation of Kyrgyz citizenship from citizens for serving in the military services of a foreign power or who have been convicted of terrorism. These amendments are of concern since “terrorism” charges can be interpreted to unduly impact individuals from certain ethnic minorities who may be deemed by State authorities to be more susceptible to “terrorist activities”. Such an interpretation raises concerns of prohibited discrimination and potentially may additionally lead to individuals becoming stateless, contrary to international human rights law. 27. The Special Rapporteur was informed during his visit that there may be a tendency among members of security forces and judicial authorities to consider Uzbeks or Uighurs as more prone to a variety of activities, not all of them violent, that are categorized as “terrorism”. 28. He is concerned that the Government of Kyrgyzstan has been caught up in “legislative fever” around counter-terrorism, and that the more recent amendments have had the effect of instrumentalizing the citizenship policy in practice so as to strip certain individuals of their citizenship on the pretext of national security. This appears to target and impact disproportionately and unreasonably specific minorities, potentially stripping mainly Uzbeks and Uighurs of their citizenship and rendering them stateless. 29. In addition to the targeting of particular members of these minorities under counterterrorism measures, which constitutes a discriminatory application of the law, the practice of withdrawing citizenship from persons suspected of being involved in a wide or ambiguous category of terrorism has been criticized as being contrary to Security Council resolutions which require States to investigate and prosecute terrorism-related charges against individuals through their national criminal justice frameworks – and not to deprive individuals of their citizenship.4 D. Education and minorities 30. In Kyrgyzstan, school education includes primary education (grades 1 to 4), basic secondary education (grades 5 to 9) and upper secondary education (grades 10 and 11). Primary and basic secondary education are compulsory. There is also one year of elective preschool education. 4 6 Security Council resolution 2178 (2014).

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