The election campaign is in full swing, and all over Kyrgyzstan posters and billboards are promising a bright future for the country and its population. However, between the 12 parties currently running for Parliament, it is often difficult to get a grasp of what their actual political platform is. Slogans are a fine thing indeed - but one can easily understand the frustration among many Kyrgyzstanis at the fact that few parties offer a cohesive program - apart from being for a bright future, which fairly obviously no political party would ever be against. The question is if this bright future will also include women - and how we will get there.

Kyrgyzstan is facing numerous challenges in the sphere of human rights. I wish to lay one of them on the table for the readers of Vecherniy Bishkek, and challenge the 12 political parties now competing to lead this country to state what their stand on this issue really is. The issue is bride-kidnapping.

A couple of months ago, I learned of an incident involving a young Kyrgyz girl that saddened me greatly. Out of respect for the family, I will not reveal her name, or the name of her village. It started as a seemingly common occurence - on a day in early October, a girl was kidnapped for marriage. In order to escape the situation, this particular girl told her captor she was not a virgin, and was allowed to leave. However, she soon became the victim of gossip in the village, and experienced immense psychological pressure from friends and family to marry. A few days later she was found in her neighbour’s barn. She had hung herself. In her pocket was a note, that read “Please tell my father I am still a virgin. I hope I am going to a peaceful place now.”

This story is, of course, particularly tragic. But it is a true story. And it highlights the desperation that surely is felt by many Kyrgyz women. Unhappiness is not always so easy to notice.

Bride-kidnapping is on the rise in Kyrgyzstan, and has been for many years. It takes place both in the north and the south of the country, mostly in rural areas, but also in cities. There are many myths and misconceptions surrounding bride-kidnapping. One of the most common ones is that it is part of ancient Kyrgyz traditions and culture, and therefore should be respected as such. Another is that non-consensual bride-kidnapping does not really exist - that it is part of a game or historically based ritual, and that the girl in reality wishes to be married in this manner. Others claim that it is usually done in agreement between the couple-to-be, in order to avoid the high bride price, kalym.

Having travelled widely to all parts of Kyrgyzstan over the past year, I have my own impression of forced marriages in this country, and the misery it often leads to. I will, however, only refer to well-known research in the following : In a study conducted by the American University in Bishkek in 2004, all Kyrgyz women in one village were questioned about their experiences with bride-kidnapping. Incidentally, only 3% said that kalym had played a role. The shocking fact was that as many as 80% of the women in this village said they had been kidnapped prior to marriage. And most importantly, out of these, 57% said that the kidnapping had been non-consensual. Not part of a ritual. Not their real, secret wish. The idea that women might say no when they really mean yes might be funny when having a drink with the guys at the local riumochnaya, but I’d like to see a politician try to defend this argument on national television. In my dictionary, the meaning of the word “non-consensual” is surely not difficult to understand.

Recently I had the opportunity to be present while a group of 14-year olds in Oshskaya Oblast discussed bride-kidnapping in class. The teacher, an otherwise lovely woman, told the pupils that bride-kidnapping was a good tradition, and although she herself had been kidnapped in her time, she was very happy now, and had two beautiful children. I bit my tongue. Happy or not - that is not the issue. What truly is the issue, is that in Kyrgyzstan, apparently even teachers can think that it is all right to encourage kidnapping and rape to male students, and telling female students to bow their heads and accept it.

I decided to read up on Kyrgyzstan’s Criminal Code when I got back from Osh. And yes, there it was, black on white, clear as the day it was written. Paragraph 155 of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic states that “forcing a woman to marry (…) or kidnapping her in order to marry without her consent (…) is punishable by a fine of 100 to 200 times the minimum monthly wage or up to five years in prison.” Bride-kidnapping is, in other words, illegal. The same, thank God, goes for rape. Yet, I am not aware of a single instance where Kyrgyz authorities have lifted a finger to stop a bride-kidnapping, or done anything to persecute the perpetrators of a crime that seems to have become widely accepted in Kyrgyz society. Is this law not equal to other laws in the Criminal Code? Is kidnapping a woman somehow different from kidnapping a man? Perhaps the real issue is that the authorities are unwilling to live by the laws they themselves have passed.

I am aware that many are sensitive to foreigners trying to meddle in Kyrgyz culture and traditions, as they certainly should be. I agree completely that it is not the role of international organizations to tell anyone how to live their private lives. As a foreigner living and working in Kyrgyzstan, I have become deeply fond of this beautiful country, and have great respect for the Kyrgyz traditions of hospitality and friendship. But no one will convince me that dragging a woman off the street and forcing her to marry someone against her will has anything to do with culture. It was never an important part of Kyrgyz marriage rituals - the occurence of bride-kidnapping is much higher today than it was in the time before the Soviet Union, or in ancient times. It is not culture. It is a violation of human rights, it is an affront to women, it creates enormous unhappiness and, like it or not, it is a serious crime - both according to Kyrgyz national law, and to international conventions signed and ratified by the Kyrgyz Republic, such as the UN Convention on Discrimination Against Women.

There is a very big difference between an arranged marriage - which is a natural part of Kyrgyz society - and a marriage that was forced upon someone who had other dreams and wishes in life.

Political parties bear one main responsibility - to find the path that the country is going to take in the future. Human rights are part of that path. Among the complaints I hear the most among my Kyrgyz friends and from Bishkek’s talkative cab drivers, is that they do not know what the different parties really stand for. They find it impossible to choose. Here is your chance to change that. I challenge the country’s political parties to clearly state what their stand on bride-kidnapping and womens’ rights are. Perhaps you too believe that it is a human rights violation. If so, let the electorate know how you intend to stop it. Or perhaps you believe that bride-kidnapping indeed is part of Kyrgyz tradition, and that it should be preserved. If so, let the electorate know this.

It takes courage to bring such a topic out of the shadows where it currently dwells, and into the political debate in the run-up to the elections. Let us see which parties have that courage, and which ones don’t.

There is no time like the present. Good luck with the elections!