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Kyrgyzstan

Articles by Kyrgyzstan

Galina Chirkina IPPF Kyrgyzstan
19 April 2014

Sexual and reproductive health services under threat in Kyrgyzstan

“It felt like I was on trial,” says Galina Chirkina, the Executive Director of IPPF’s Member Association in Kyrgyzstan, the Reproductive Health Alliance (RHAK), about her experience at a Parliamentary hearing convened on 12 October 2013 to discuss the claim that her organisation was illegally engaging in “destructive activities”. These included distributing booklets on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) that allegedly contradicted Kyrgyz norms and traditions. Galina had been summoned to the hearing with less than 24 hours’ notice. The expert witnesses she had called the night before to join the hearing were refused entry. This was the latest move by conservative and religious forces in Kyrgyzstan to counter the promotion of SRH. Galina, one of the country’s leading SRH advocates, knew she was in for a very difficult day. Years of build-up to the hearing The Ministry of Health (MoH) welcomes RHAK’s work on healthy lifestyles and HIV prevention in youth-friendly MoH clinics throughout the country, and RHAK developed a set of booklets to respond to the needs of Kyrgyz youth, with support from UNICEF and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ). These booklets were widely used in governmental and non-governmental services throughout Kyrgyzstan, and were reprinted several times due to high demand. But in the spring of 2013, trouble erupted when a campaign was launched against the booklets on the grounds that they were out of step with Kyrgyz cultural norms. Russian Orthodox and Muslim religious leaders partnered with conservative political parties to counter what they viewed as harmful “western” influence. Galina, always open to dialogue, proposed a meeting to discuss adapting the booklets but it was soon clear the opponents would fight to have the publications banned. In September 2013, religious leaders publicly highlighted RHAK’s “destructive behaviour” and pledged to fight NGOs that promote lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights and what they called “pornography.” In the month that followed, RHAK was inspected by the police, the tax authorities and the internal security service. On 6 October, it held a conference for 120 of Kyrgyzstan’s leading experts, educators, civil society actors and governmental and religious officials concerned with SRH to discuss a way forward. The signatures of 650 leading health and human rights experts and activists as well as some government officials were gathered and addressed to the President, the Parliament and the executive agencies of the government, calling for action to support SRH in Kyrgyzstan. The hearing Galina faced a hostile presidium of Vice Ministers from key ministries, and members of the Parliamentary committee on education, culture and sport. However, shortly before the hearing began, Oleg Pankratov, the Advisor to the Prime Minister, unexpectedly entered the room to join the debate. He had been informed about the hearing by a lawyer working for RHAK, and understanding the gravity of the situation for the future of human rights and health in Kyrgyzstan, decided to attend the hearing and show his support, shaking Galina’s hand and sitting down beside her. Over the next five hours Galina withstood aggressive accusations and was denied the opportunity to speak. The contents of the booklets were scrutinised and statements by religious organisations and conservative civil society groups were read out, proclaiming that the booklets were pornographic and would lead to degradation of Kyrgyz culture. RHAK’s work was condemned for corrupting young people and even spoiling the Kyrgyz gene pool. Tursunbai Bakir Uluu, who had organised book burning rallies ten years earlier, shouted at Galina, “I have burned your books and I will burn you!” Galina now felt a new kind of fear, not only for the future of SRH in her country, but for herself and for her family. After the hearing – a difficult path ahead for sexual and reproductive health services Galina exited the hearing to the cheers of supporters who had gathered outside the Parliament building. In the weeks that followed, the General Prosecutor’s office proceeded with an investigation, and RHAK was visited again by the police, the tax authorities and the internal security service. Not a single fault in its operations has been found. RHAK has dodged a bullet for now, but a far larger fight lies ahead. While it has considerable support from Kyrgyz civil society, experts, the Ministry of Health, and even law enforcement agencies, local funding for SRH services is still not available. Donor funding for RHAK’s work is shrinking, while a greater proportion of financial support coming from sources in Russia and Muslim countries is happily used by those opposing RHAK’s work. If opposition to RHAK’s work on SRH gets stronger, then more than 40,000 young people in Kyrgyzstan will be at risk of losing access to its services.

IPPF EN and RHAK work to empower women and support their reproductive choices
02 May 2017

Liana's Story

Liana was told she wasn't able to give birth but thanks to IPPF EN member association, the Reproductive Health Alliance Kyrgyzstan (RHAK), Liana had a healthy baby boy. IPPF EN and RHAK work to empower women and support their reproductive choices.

Kyrgyzstan sexuality education
18 November 2016

Sexual health? It’s shameful not to know!

When Uluk began teaching his friends about reproductive health, he had no idea that it would develop into a fully-fledged vocation. It all started when one of his friends began asking everyone to hold up their thumbs. “We did, and my friend began to laugh. And then he said that he could determine the size of someone’s penis just by observing the size of the thumb. After that, my friends began asking me questions, either on social media, or out and about.” Uluk, 16, now refers to himself as a “junior expert” on reproductive health issues. As a volunteer for the Reproductive Health Alliance (RHAK)*, Kyrgyzstan, he began conducting training sessions for secondary school students, and providing referrals to other young people for their clinic in the capital, Bishkek. It was at one of these meetings that he met Ainura, who lives in the country’s Chuy Region. She told Uluk that after getting her first period, she was brought to a gynaecologist, who found out she wasn’t a virgin and informed her mother. She was subsequently punished by her father who told her, “You are not a girl; you are a disgrace to our family.” Ainura’s story reflects the deep societal stigmatisation about sex and morality that girls face on a daily basis. It is so important for girls like Ainura to have access to information on their sexual and reproductive health and rights. In a country where sex and sexuality are very much taboo, young people are often left to fend for themselves when it comes to reproductive health. Uluk and other young volunteers play a vital role in providing education and services to young people where they have been largely kept out of the loop. Women and girls in Kyrgyzstan continue to be at a disadvantage primarily due to gender stereotypes, and conservative customs and practices.  Although the country has a gender action plan, and has signed the Beijing Platform for Action to uphold women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights, a lack of political will and reduced funding mean that these treaties have had very little impact. Although comprehensive sexuality education is on the official curriculum, few schools offer it. The influence of religious groups and a lack of funding make it increasingly difficult to teach sexuality education, which leaves young people – who make up 31% of the population –particularly vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancy. Many young people in Bishkek are actually too worried to go to private clinics due to the suspicion surrounding their visits. They tend to use the internet to find out about sex and in turn go to unlicensed clinics to avoid their parents and the rumours that follow. The reproductive health knowledge young volunteers gain fills a massive gap in information that they do not receive at school or home. Uluk often conducts classes on reproductive health matters, HIV/AIDS and contraception at school. Hoping to ensure that all young people benefit from improved access to information, education and services, RHAK worked with key decision-makers to ensure sexuality education and youth-friendly services were included in the national reproductive health strategy.  “The state and private sectors only seek to benefit themselves, not us,” says Uluk. “We must take care of our own reproductive health. There's nothing shameful in knowing about it, it is shameful not to know about it.” * IPPF’s Member Association by Galina Chirkina, Executive Director, Reproductive, Health Alliance Kyrgyzstan, (RHAK) featured in the Girls' Rights Gazette for European Week of Action for Girls

aaron-burden-xG8IQMqMITM-unsplash_9.jpg
07 July 2016

Uluk's story

Uluk's story is about young people,  myths and sexuality education in Karakol, Kyrgyzstan.

Reproductive Health Alliance of Kyrgyzstan

The Reproductive Health Alliance Kyrgyzstan (RHAK) was set up in 2001, and its services now extend across all 7 regions of the Kyrgyz Republic (Osh, Jalal-Abad, Talas, Chui, Naryn, Batken, Issyk-Kul).

From its inception, RHAK has enjoyed strong youth support and input into its organization, policy-making and delivery. As a result, its youth work is a distinctive strength.

RHAK has developed information materials for adolescents which cover critical sexual and reproductive health (SRH) issues such as contraception and the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STIs, including HIV and AIDS).

A significant contingent of national and international trainers have been involved in training health professionals and volunteers who’ve subsequently trained groups of all sorts in SRH. Particular interest groups include refugees and internal migrants, injecting drug users (IDUs), sex workers, children in care and homeless children.

RHAK is an active member of collaborative, central Asian initiatives to address the particular SRH needs and challenges of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and repatriates. This work has included the publication and circulation of a substantial range of written materials, and the creation of 3 clinics located expressly to serve migrant communities.

Kyrgyzstan's cocktail of conservatism and apathy a bitter draught for women
30 March 2015

Kyrgyzstan's cocktail of conservatism and apathy a bitter draught for women

Article appeared in The Guardian, 26 March 2015 "When Guliaim Aiylchy opened her cafe-bar in Bishkek two years ago, it wasn’t just because she wanted to run her own business or make money. The 31-year-old also wanted to support other women in the city. Sitting at a wooden table in the Chocolate Bar in Erkindik Boulevard – by day a cafe serving food and coffees, by night a cocktail bar – Aiylchy explains why she only employs women. “Women are better to work with. If women want to work in restaurants, they’re only taken on as waitresses, not bar workers, which is seen as man’s work,” she says through an interpreter. “I don’t know why that is. I teach women to make cocktails and work the bar so they can take that skill somewhere else. It’s seen as more prestigious working in a bar than waitressing.” She also sells crafts produced by women, who sometimes work from the cafe, and allocates a percentage of her profits to support women who want to set up new businesses. “I support women opening businesses. I try to train them to be economically independent.” Her motivation to support women comes from what she sees as a slow erosion of women’s rights in Kyrgyzstan. She noticed a change five years ago, when she returned from a four-year stint in Turkey. For her, the sign of shifting sands was the increasing number of women in the capital wearing hijabs. “There were a lot more women in headscarves when I came back,” says Aiylchy, the single mother of a five-year-old daughter. She sees male influence behind the trend. Although not from a Muslim family, two of her sisters began wearing hijabs when they married Muslim men; one of them later removed hers when she got a divorce. Aiylchy has seen something similar happen with friends, too. “It feels like things are going backwards,” she says. “In my family, I grew up believing that men and women are equal. I was surprised to find other families are not like that.” She worries that, by agreeing to wear the headscarf, the women of today will have a negative impact on those of tomorrow. “It will be even easier to take away the rights of the next generation. Our daughters and granddaughters will have fewer and fewer rights,” says Aiylchy. A report published by the Forum of Women’s NGOs of Kyrgyzstan, which represents more than 85 organisations, said the influence of religious ideology – both Islamic and Christian – “substantially contributes to discrimination against women”, especially in rural areas. The study suggested such influence had gradually increased in the vacuum created by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the country’s independence in 1991. “Islam has a strong influence on women, how to dress and act and it’s now being discussed widely, in mosques and on television, that women should live moral lives,” says Bermet Stakeeva, programme officer at the forum. On paper, though, the country looks progressive. Over the past 25 years, Kyrgyzstan has ratified more than 30 international conventions upholding women’s rights and empowerment. The country also signed up to the Beijing platform for action to advance women’s rights in 1995, and the Cairo agreement a year earlier promising to uphold women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights. It promised to meet the UN millennium development goals. Gender equality is enshrined in the country’s constitution, gender action plans have been drawn up, and parliament has 30% quotas for women. Kyrgyzstan also has legislation protecting women from domestic violence, liberal abortion laws, and has set the legal age of marriage at 18. However, a lack of funds and political will, and religious conservatism that casts women as inferior to men, means high ideals have rarely been translated into action. The latest World Bank figures show that Kyrgyzstan has the highest number of maternal deaths in the region, and the country will not meet the millennium development target to reduce maternal mortality rates by three-quarters. The number of women who die from pregnancy-related causes stands at 75 for every 100,000 live births, which is about three times higher than neighbouring Kazakhstan, where the population is significantly bigger. The number of married women using contraception has dropped from 60% in 1997 to about 36% in 2012, partly because of the influence of religious leaders, partly due to the prohibitive cost of modern family planning methods, which is pushing some women towards abortion as a cheaper option. The Reproductive Health Alliance of Kyrgyzstan (RHAK), a member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, estimates the monthly cost of oral contraception is $5.The average basic salary for a doctor is less than $80 a month. Sex is still a taboo subject, and sex education in schools is rare or non-existent, making the large youth population – more than 30% of people are aged 10-24 – particularly vulnerable to sexual transmitted diseases. Violence against women remains common and is carried out with relative impunity. And while the official age of marriage is 18, this can be reduced by a year if local authorities deem there to be a “good reason”. Many marriages go unregistered, particularly in rural areas, and the practice of bride kidnapping remains widespread, despite being illegal. The Kyrgz parliament is also debating an anti-gay propaganda bill, styled around one passed in Russia. Rising poverty levels over the past five years have also complicated the picture for women. Roughly 38% of the population still lives below the national poverty line of $1.50 a day. Galina Chirkina, executive director of RHAK, said the government’s support for women’s rights lacked both funding and clear strategies. For example, there is provision in law to teach sex education in school but it’s not being implemented, she says. “There is no funding or support, and teachers don’t have the skills. No one made a programme. There was no specific training for teachers, no manuals to teach children in the school system. And nobody told them they had to teach it. There are also cultural barriers … and the influence of religious groups, who were very aggressive and negative about it.” The RHAK was called before a parliamentary hearing in 2013 over complaints that sex education booklets it produced for young people ran counter to cultural beliefs. The complaints were made by members of the Russian Orthodox church, Muslim leaders and conservative MPs. But women’s groups are pushing back. Earlier this month, Bishkek staged Kyrgyzstan’s first national women’s forum, attracting representatives from more than 1,000 groups nationwide, as well as politicians and female ministers. Ahead of November’s parliamentary elections, there were calls for a specific government ministry to address gender equality and for the reproductive health bill currently being debated by parliament to be beefed up. Local women’s groups, supported by the forum of women NGOs, are developing their own policies that have women at the centre. For the moment, Ailychy plans to stay in Bishkek, to support women and fight from the inside. “I want to believe it will be good,” she says."   Picture: Galina Chirkina, Executive Director of the Reproductive Health Alliance of Kyrgyzstan. Photo by Liz Ford for the Guardian.

Galina Chirkina IPPF Kyrgyzstan
19 April 2014

Sexual and reproductive health services under threat in Kyrgyzstan

“It felt like I was on trial,” says Galina Chirkina, the Executive Director of IPPF’s Member Association in Kyrgyzstan, the Reproductive Health Alliance (RHAK), about her experience at a Parliamentary hearing convened on 12 October 2013 to discuss the claim that her organisation was illegally engaging in “destructive activities”. These included distributing booklets on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) that allegedly contradicted Kyrgyz norms and traditions. Galina had been summoned to the hearing with less than 24 hours’ notice. The expert witnesses she had called the night before to join the hearing were refused entry. This was the latest move by conservative and religious forces in Kyrgyzstan to counter the promotion of SRH. Galina, one of the country’s leading SRH advocates, knew she was in for a very difficult day. Years of build-up to the hearing The Ministry of Health (MoH) welcomes RHAK’s work on healthy lifestyles and HIV prevention in youth-friendly MoH clinics throughout the country, and RHAK developed a set of booklets to respond to the needs of Kyrgyz youth, with support from UNICEF and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ). These booklets were widely used in governmental and non-governmental services throughout Kyrgyzstan, and were reprinted several times due to high demand. But in the spring of 2013, trouble erupted when a campaign was launched against the booklets on the grounds that they were out of step with Kyrgyz cultural norms. Russian Orthodox and Muslim religious leaders partnered with conservative political parties to counter what they viewed as harmful “western” influence. Galina, always open to dialogue, proposed a meeting to discuss adapting the booklets but it was soon clear the opponents would fight to have the publications banned. In September 2013, religious leaders publicly highlighted RHAK’s “destructive behaviour” and pledged to fight NGOs that promote lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights and what they called “pornography.” In the month that followed, RHAK was inspected by the police, the tax authorities and the internal security service. On 6 October, it held a conference for 120 of Kyrgyzstan’s leading experts, educators, civil society actors and governmental and religious officials concerned with SRH to discuss a way forward. The signatures of 650 leading health and human rights experts and activists as well as some government officials were gathered and addressed to the President, the Parliament and the executive agencies of the government, calling for action to support SRH in Kyrgyzstan. The hearing Galina faced a hostile presidium of Vice Ministers from key ministries, and members of the Parliamentary committee on education, culture and sport. However, shortly before the hearing began, Oleg Pankratov, the Advisor to the Prime Minister, unexpectedly entered the room to join the debate. He had been informed about the hearing by a lawyer working for RHAK, and understanding the gravity of the situation for the future of human rights and health in Kyrgyzstan, decided to attend the hearing and show his support, shaking Galina’s hand and sitting down beside her. Over the next five hours Galina withstood aggressive accusations and was denied the opportunity to speak. The contents of the booklets were scrutinised and statements by religious organisations and conservative civil society groups were read out, proclaiming that the booklets were pornographic and would lead to degradation of Kyrgyz culture. RHAK’s work was condemned for corrupting young people and even spoiling the Kyrgyz gene pool. Tursunbai Bakir Uluu, who had organised book burning rallies ten years earlier, shouted at Galina, “I have burned your books and I will burn you!” Galina now felt a new kind of fear, not only for the future of SRH in her country, but for herself and for her family. After the hearing – a difficult path ahead for sexual and reproductive health services Galina exited the hearing to the cheers of supporters who had gathered outside the Parliament building. In the weeks that followed, the General Prosecutor’s office proceeded with an investigation, and RHAK was visited again by the police, the tax authorities and the internal security service. Not a single fault in its operations has been found. RHAK has dodged a bullet for now, but a far larger fight lies ahead. While it has considerable support from Kyrgyz civil society, experts, the Ministry of Health, and even law enforcement agencies, local funding for SRH services is still not available. Donor funding for RHAK’s work is shrinking, while a greater proportion of financial support coming from sources in Russia and Muslim countries is happily used by those opposing RHAK’s work. If opposition to RHAK’s work on SRH gets stronger, then more than 40,000 young people in Kyrgyzstan will be at risk of losing access to its services.

IPPF EN and RHAK work to empower women and support their reproductive choices
02 May 2017

Liana's Story

Liana was told she wasn't able to give birth but thanks to IPPF EN member association, the Reproductive Health Alliance Kyrgyzstan (RHAK), Liana had a healthy baby boy. IPPF EN and RHAK work to empower women and support their reproductive choices.

Kyrgyzstan sexuality education
18 November 2016

Sexual health? It’s shameful not to know!

When Uluk began teaching his friends about reproductive health, he had no idea that it would develop into a fully-fledged vocation. It all started when one of his friends began asking everyone to hold up their thumbs. “We did, and my friend began to laugh. And then he said that he could determine the size of someone’s penis just by observing the size of the thumb. After that, my friends began asking me questions, either on social media, or out and about.” Uluk, 16, now refers to himself as a “junior expert” on reproductive health issues. As a volunteer for the Reproductive Health Alliance (RHAK)*, Kyrgyzstan, he began conducting training sessions for secondary school students, and providing referrals to other young people for their clinic in the capital, Bishkek. It was at one of these meetings that he met Ainura, who lives in the country’s Chuy Region. She told Uluk that after getting her first period, she was brought to a gynaecologist, who found out she wasn’t a virgin and informed her mother. She was subsequently punished by her father who told her, “You are not a girl; you are a disgrace to our family.” Ainura’s story reflects the deep societal stigmatisation about sex and morality that girls face on a daily basis. It is so important for girls like Ainura to have access to information on their sexual and reproductive health and rights. In a country where sex and sexuality are very much taboo, young people are often left to fend for themselves when it comes to reproductive health. Uluk and other young volunteers play a vital role in providing education and services to young people where they have been largely kept out of the loop. Women and girls in Kyrgyzstan continue to be at a disadvantage primarily due to gender stereotypes, and conservative customs and practices.  Although the country has a gender action plan, and has signed the Beijing Platform for Action to uphold women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights, a lack of political will and reduced funding mean that these treaties have had very little impact. Although comprehensive sexuality education is on the official curriculum, few schools offer it. The influence of religious groups and a lack of funding make it increasingly difficult to teach sexuality education, which leaves young people – who make up 31% of the population –particularly vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancy. Many young people in Bishkek are actually too worried to go to private clinics due to the suspicion surrounding their visits. They tend to use the internet to find out about sex and in turn go to unlicensed clinics to avoid their parents and the rumours that follow. The reproductive health knowledge young volunteers gain fills a massive gap in information that they do not receive at school or home. Uluk often conducts classes on reproductive health matters, HIV/AIDS and contraception at school. Hoping to ensure that all young people benefit from improved access to information, education and services, RHAK worked with key decision-makers to ensure sexuality education and youth-friendly services were included in the national reproductive health strategy.  “The state and private sectors only seek to benefit themselves, not us,” says Uluk. “We must take care of our own reproductive health. There's nothing shameful in knowing about it, it is shameful not to know about it.” * IPPF’s Member Association by Galina Chirkina, Executive Director, Reproductive, Health Alliance Kyrgyzstan, (RHAK) featured in the Girls' Rights Gazette for European Week of Action for Girls

aaron-burden-xG8IQMqMITM-unsplash_9.jpg
07 July 2016

Uluk's story

Uluk's story is about young people,  myths and sexuality education in Karakol, Kyrgyzstan.

Reproductive Health Alliance of Kyrgyzstan

The Reproductive Health Alliance Kyrgyzstan (RHAK) was set up in 2001, and its services now extend across all 7 regions of the Kyrgyz Republic (Osh, Jalal-Abad, Talas, Chui, Naryn, Batken, Issyk-Kul).

From its inception, RHAK has enjoyed strong youth support and input into its organization, policy-making and delivery. As a result, its youth work is a distinctive strength.

RHAK has developed information materials for adolescents which cover critical sexual and reproductive health (SRH) issues such as contraception and the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STIs, including HIV and AIDS).

A significant contingent of national and international trainers have been involved in training health professionals and volunteers who’ve subsequently trained groups of all sorts in SRH. Particular interest groups include refugees and internal migrants, injecting drug users (IDUs), sex workers, children in care and homeless children.

RHAK is an active member of collaborative, central Asian initiatives to address the particular SRH needs and challenges of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and repatriates. This work has included the publication and circulation of a substantial range of written materials, and the creation of 3 clinics located expressly to serve migrant communities.

Kyrgyzstan's cocktail of conservatism and apathy a bitter draught for women
30 March 2015

Kyrgyzstan's cocktail of conservatism and apathy a bitter draught for women

Article appeared in The Guardian, 26 March 2015 "When Guliaim Aiylchy opened her cafe-bar in Bishkek two years ago, it wasn’t just because she wanted to run her own business or make money. The 31-year-old also wanted to support other women in the city. Sitting at a wooden table in the Chocolate Bar in Erkindik Boulevard – by day a cafe serving food and coffees, by night a cocktail bar – Aiylchy explains why she only employs women. “Women are better to work with. If women want to work in restaurants, they’re only taken on as waitresses, not bar workers, which is seen as man’s work,” she says through an interpreter. “I don’t know why that is. I teach women to make cocktails and work the bar so they can take that skill somewhere else. It’s seen as more prestigious working in a bar than waitressing.” She also sells crafts produced by women, who sometimes work from the cafe, and allocates a percentage of her profits to support women who want to set up new businesses. “I support women opening businesses. I try to train them to be economically independent.” Her motivation to support women comes from what she sees as a slow erosion of women’s rights in Kyrgyzstan. She noticed a change five years ago, when she returned from a four-year stint in Turkey. For her, the sign of shifting sands was the increasing number of women in the capital wearing hijabs. “There were a lot more women in headscarves when I came back,” says Aiylchy, the single mother of a five-year-old daughter. She sees male influence behind the trend. Although not from a Muslim family, two of her sisters began wearing hijabs when they married Muslim men; one of them later removed hers when she got a divorce. Aiylchy has seen something similar happen with friends, too. “It feels like things are going backwards,” she says. “In my family, I grew up believing that men and women are equal. I was surprised to find other families are not like that.” She worries that, by agreeing to wear the headscarf, the women of today will have a negative impact on those of tomorrow. “It will be even easier to take away the rights of the next generation. Our daughters and granddaughters will have fewer and fewer rights,” says Aiylchy. A report published by the Forum of Women’s NGOs of Kyrgyzstan, which represents more than 85 organisations, said the influence of religious ideology – both Islamic and Christian – “substantially contributes to discrimination against women”, especially in rural areas. The study suggested such influence had gradually increased in the vacuum created by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the country’s independence in 1991. “Islam has a strong influence on women, how to dress and act and it’s now being discussed widely, in mosques and on television, that women should live moral lives,” says Bermet Stakeeva, programme officer at the forum. On paper, though, the country looks progressive. Over the past 25 years, Kyrgyzstan has ratified more than 30 international conventions upholding women’s rights and empowerment. The country also signed up to the Beijing platform for action to advance women’s rights in 1995, and the Cairo agreement a year earlier promising to uphold women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights. It promised to meet the UN millennium development goals. Gender equality is enshrined in the country’s constitution, gender action plans have been drawn up, and parliament has 30% quotas for women. Kyrgyzstan also has legislation protecting women from domestic violence, liberal abortion laws, and has set the legal age of marriage at 18. However, a lack of funds and political will, and religious conservatism that casts women as inferior to men, means high ideals have rarely been translated into action. The latest World Bank figures show that Kyrgyzstan has the highest number of maternal deaths in the region, and the country will not meet the millennium development target to reduce maternal mortality rates by three-quarters. The number of women who die from pregnancy-related causes stands at 75 for every 100,000 live births, which is about three times higher than neighbouring Kazakhstan, where the population is significantly bigger. The number of married women using contraception has dropped from 60% in 1997 to about 36% in 2012, partly because of the influence of religious leaders, partly due to the prohibitive cost of modern family planning methods, which is pushing some women towards abortion as a cheaper option. The Reproductive Health Alliance of Kyrgyzstan (RHAK), a member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, estimates the monthly cost of oral contraception is $5.The average basic salary for a doctor is less than $80 a month. Sex is still a taboo subject, and sex education in schools is rare or non-existent, making the large youth population – more than 30% of people are aged 10-24 – particularly vulnerable to sexual transmitted diseases. Violence against women remains common and is carried out with relative impunity. And while the official age of marriage is 18, this can be reduced by a year if local authorities deem there to be a “good reason”. Many marriages go unregistered, particularly in rural areas, and the practice of bride kidnapping remains widespread, despite being illegal. The Kyrgz parliament is also debating an anti-gay propaganda bill, styled around one passed in Russia. Rising poverty levels over the past five years have also complicated the picture for women. Roughly 38% of the population still lives below the national poverty line of $1.50 a day. Galina Chirkina, executive director of RHAK, said the government’s support for women’s rights lacked both funding and clear strategies. For example, there is provision in law to teach sex education in school but it’s not being implemented, she says. “There is no funding or support, and teachers don’t have the skills. No one made a programme. There was no specific training for teachers, no manuals to teach children in the school system. And nobody told them they had to teach it. There are also cultural barriers … and the influence of religious groups, who were very aggressive and negative about it.” The RHAK was called before a parliamentary hearing in 2013 over complaints that sex education booklets it produced for young people ran counter to cultural beliefs. The complaints were made by members of the Russian Orthodox church, Muslim leaders and conservative MPs. But women’s groups are pushing back. Earlier this month, Bishkek staged Kyrgyzstan’s first national women’s forum, attracting representatives from more than 1,000 groups nationwide, as well as politicians and female ministers. Ahead of November’s parliamentary elections, there were calls for a specific government ministry to address gender equality and for the reproductive health bill currently being debated by parliament to be beefed up. Local women’s groups, supported by the forum of women NGOs, are developing their own policies that have women at the centre. For the moment, Ailychy plans to stay in Bishkek, to support women and fight from the inside. “I want to believe it will be good,” she says."   Picture: Galina Chirkina, Executive Director of the Reproductive Health Alliance of Kyrgyzstan. Photo by Liz Ford for the Guardian.