Access to Justice for Vulnerable Groups in the Kyrgyz Republic

Access to Justice for Vulnerable Groups in the Kyrgyz Republic

December 17, 2014

The Kyrgyz Republic has laid the groundwork for creating such access to justice for vulnerable groups. Yet ensuring that meaningful rights guarantees are ultimately realized for all will require further steps to be taken. When viewed through the lens of three specific groups – women, children and youth, and people with disabilities – in select target areas of the Kyrgyz Republic (Bishkek, Chuy province, Osh city, and Osh province), some of the largest deficits in practical access to justice become clear.

The present research showed that well over half of women in the target areas lacked paid employment, and younger women were particularly unlikely to be employed. More than one in 10 women surveyed lives on a family income of less than US$89 a month. Over one in 20 married women has no marriage certificate, blocking these women from exercising the important bundle of rights attached to the marriage institution in the country.

Children and youth also confront serious challenges to accessing justice. Two out of three young people said that their monthly household income was less than $178 a month. One in 10 young people aged 16 to 28 does not have a national identity card, making it impossible to access important public services and justice institutions.

People with disabilities, both physical and cognitive, are among the most vulnerable of all. Physical inability to enter justice and educational institutions and restricted access to public information represent serious hindrances. A dependence on government financial assistance, received by half the respondents, creates a tenuous situation for many disabled individuals, who have no other way to generate income if government payments fail.

This baseline study was conducted as part of the project on widening access to justice for vulnerable groups of people in Kyrgyzstan.

It will help the government of the Kyrgyz Republic and the United Nations Development Programme to better understand the needs of the country’s people, especially the most vulnerable ones, such as rural women, people with disabilities, youth at risk and ethnic minorities.

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