Victims’ Rights in Post-Conflict Kyrgyzstan
Location: | OSI-Washington, D.C. | |
Event Date: | September 22, 2011 | |
Event Time: | 12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. | |
Speakers: | Tolekan Ismailova, Jeff Goldstein | |
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The June 2010 violence in southern Kyrgyzstan left close to 500 dead, thousands injured, and 400,000 displaced. Since then, the country has held a referendum and adopted a parliamentary system of government, and is now preparing for presidential elections in October. However, Kyrgyzstan remains fraught with interethnic tension and has seen a rise in extreme nationalism. Throughout this period, Kyrgyz civil society has provided crucial citizen services where government and law-enforcement bodies have failed or lost credibility with victims of the violence.
Please join us for a discussion on civil society’s participation in Kyrgyzstan’s reconciliation process. Tolekan Ismailova, director of the leading Kyrgyz NGO “Citizens against Corruption,” will discuss her experience advocating for a fair and open investigation of the June events. Her organization works to protect the political, economic, social, and cultural rights of Kyrgyz citizens through election monitoring, human rights training, criminal justice reform, and legal aid services.
Speakers
- Tolekan Ismailova, Director, Citizens Against Corruption
- Jeff Goldstein, Senior Policy Analyst, Open Society Foundations (moderator)
Lunch will be served.