Fourth Se ssion of the Forum on Minority Issue s
Guarante e ing the rights of minority wome n
Thank you Ms. Chair for giving me opportunity to speak, I speak on behalf of the Public
Association the "Institute for Regional Studies" in the Kyrgyz Republic.
After last year's ethnic conflict between predominantly the Kyrgyz and .Uzbek communities, the
State and NGOs have been taking full measures to improve the situation, including greater respect
for minority rights to alleviate tensions between different ethnic groups. For example, thiS year
there has been developed a 'Concept on Ethnic Politics and the Consolidation of Society of the
Kyrgyz Republic and Plan of Action'. However, I would like to raise attention to the problems
faced by minority women, which do not receive much attention.
It is common that the rights of minority women are associated with the continued presence of
entrenched gender roles, so the problems faced by minority women remain unnoticed and
appropriate measures to eliminate these problems have not been developed.
For example, it is the practice of some ethnic minority parents to want their daughters to many at
an early age, before they are able to finish school and get a certificate of basic education. This fact
is not giving them the opportunity to continue studying, improve education, to be aware of and
actively participate in economic life, to have access to labor markets and have full participation in
social, cultural and political life.
Therefore minority women take less participation in politics than men. Women realize their
potential in public life (NG0s) or working in social institutions: schools, kindergartens, hospitals.
In this regard, I consider that paragraphs 51 and 35 of the draft recommendations with respect to
guaranteeing the rights of minority women, if implemented in the Kyrgyz Republic would contribute
to solving the problem of minority women in access to education.
Specifically 1 recommend
a need to develop schemes of adult education in the interests of minority women that are
not in school
that international and national institutions and NGOs pay serious attention to the
problems of minority women.
The outgoing year was not easy for Kyrgyzstan, but due to the solidarity of the people in
Kyrgyzstan, headed by the first woman president in Central Asia — Roza Otunbaeva, we were
able to consolidate and start to take necessary measures to create equal conditions for all the
citizens of the Kyrgyz Republic, regardless of gender and ethnicity,
Thank you all for your kind attention.