Further to Djigit’s post of Aziza Abdirasulova’s letter following an attack on her in Naryn on August 10, RFE/RL published an article entitled “Women Activists Report Increasing Harassment” at the start of the month.

Referring to prominent and widely-respected activists including Tolekan Ismailova, Valentina Gritsenko and Aziza Abdirasulova, the article reports that there is growing concern that female activists are facing an increasingly hostile environment thanks to government agencies in the wake of President Bakiev’s failure to carry out long-promised reforms:

…some civil-society leaders are raising the alarm at what they say is a worsening situation for human rights.

“The lack of promised reforms is the main reason why the corruption is on the rise, the number of poorer is growing and women activists are being persecuted,” Ismailova said at a recent roundtable held by RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service.

A campaign called “Let us Defend Freedom, Dignity, and the Personal Inviolability of People in Kyrgyzstan” was launched by civil activists on July 5.

In a statement, Ismailova and her colleagues gave a long list of activists who were targeted by law-enforcement agencies and the State Committee for National Security.

Among those on the list is Valentina Gritsenko, the chairwoman of the nongovernmental organization Spravedlivost (Justice) in the southern Jalal-Abad Province, who has been persecuted for more than a year for her efforts to disclose information about the alleged torture of a pregnant woman by a local policeman.

To highlight the worsening position of human rights aktivistki as well as the position of women in Kyrgyzstan more widely, leading NGOs have launched a petition. They are aiming to collect 100,000 signatures before December 10, which is International Human Rights Day. The campaign is also being used as a fundraiser:

Each signatory to the petition will be asked to give a symbolic 1 som. Then 1 million soms (some $22,000)* will be distributed to various charities helping homeless mothers, street children, orphans, and others.

*The article quotes both 100,000 and 1 million as the number of signatures to be collected. I reckon 100,000 sounds more likely, and fits the exchange rate for $22,000.

Anything that can increase awareness of the position of women and the absolute necessity of holding the government to account can only be positive. In the meantime, activists such as Cholpon Jakupova of Adilet continue to take on the government: 24.kg reports today that Jakupova is set to take the Head of the Presidential Human Rights Committee, Tursunbek Akun, to court on August 29, following his comments about how some NGO used their funds. He suggested that some NGOs were using grants from international donors for political activities such as public protests and pickets, rather than to fund their work.

Jakupova recognises that she does not have the unanimous support of the NGO community. Explaining why she is pursuing the matter, she explained:

I’m not after his blood, which is what some activists are accusing me of. They’ve said it to me in private conversations: leave him in peace, he doesn’t command any sort of feeling from people except pity! They don’t even feel respect towards him, only pity. So write down that I’m happy for him, happy that Tursunbek Akun doesn’t command any sort of feeling except that one from a large number of people!

Even before any personal sympathy towards Akun are allowed for, it is worrying that the Head of the Presidential Human Rights Commission is held in such low esteem by those with whom he should be working. Change is indeed needed and those pushing to try and make it a positive change should be supported.