Turning around Suleiman-Too
When I first arrived in Suleiman-Too in July 2011, mistrust of the police was so strong, you could practically reach out and touch it. This was one of the districts in the city of Osh worst hit by the clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks that had devastated southern Kyrgyzstan the previous year.
I had come as an international police advisor to join the OSCE Community Security Initiative, dubbed CSI. Our task was to help local police reconcile the community. Our work needed to start from the ground up, and it needed to start with people’s hearts. We set up a forum for residents and police, but progress was slow.
On 4 April 2012, the Chief of the Suleiman-Too Police Substation entered our office to announce that three days prior, a 19-year-old girl of one ethnicity had been raped by four men of another. Three had been caught, one was still at large.
Was this the spark many were dreading, which would rekindle unrest?
Our first fears were allayed when the media, which picked up the story that same day, refrained from mentioning the victim’s or perpetrators’ ethnicities.
And as things have turned out, the shock of this hideous crime led to a series of hopeful events that are turning this community around.
A helping hand
The girl who had suffered the attack lived with her grandmother and sister – her mother was seeking employment abroad. She had sustained visible bodily injuries, and was surely in need of psychological care.
I called a friend who I knew could help: Angela Morales, head of an Osh-based NGO, who specializes in counselling victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. She has worked with women in Kyrgyzstan for years and understands the cultural cues that need to be respected when approaching such a sensitive topic. She readily agreed to meet with the girl, provided she was willing.
The Substation Chief promptly welcomed the offer. He asked the neighbourhood inspector to pass it on to the girl, who accepted. She was surprised and grateful to learn that the police had proposed the assistance!
Changing mindsets
Violence against women is all too prevalent in Kyrgyzstan. Despite legislation to protect women’s rights, complaints are routinely ignored by the police. There is a widespread sentiment among men in Kyrgyzstan that the treatment of wives by their husbands is a private matter. One in four women suffers physical abuse in the home, according to an April 2010 report by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women. The same report indicates that anywhere from 35 to 75 per cent of all marriages in the country are the product of bride kidnapping, a brutal traditional practice whereby a man abducts a woman and coerces her to marry him.
I had often reflected on these matters, but the incident with the 19-year-old girl pushed me to action. If gender-based violence was going to be taken seriously in this community, I would have to try to change people’s mind-sets.
Since coming to Suleiman-Too, I have made it part of my daily rounds to visit the Local Crime Prevention Centres (LCPCs) in the district. I received their endorsement to organize a workshop on domestic violence and bride kidnapping. Akchach Zholdosheva of the Centre for Gender and Psychological Support agreed to assist me.
Forty community and police representatives gathered for the workshop on 10 May. It started on shaky ground, with several participants voicing the opinion that bride kidnapping was a legitimate cultural tradition. But we reviewed legal provisions and after much laboured discussion reached consensus that it was a form of abuse.
We distributed information materials explaining where victims of domestic violence requiring legal counselling, psychological counselling or emergency housing could go for help. In the month that followed, the crisis centres Aruulan, Ak- Jurok and Meerban received more victims than ever before, with seven asserting that their LCPC had referred them.
The community takes up the torch
Shortly after the workshop, the Osh City Police Press Secretary, Zamirbek Sidikov, approached our office with an idea. He wanted to raise public awareness of domestic violence, and had thought of setting up billboards throughout the city. Could we assist him? We jumped at the chance.
My fellow International Police Advisor, Sergey Sizov, and I informed the crisis centres. They were thrilled, particularly because the idea came from the police. Sergey and I realized our role should be limited to that of intermediaries and mentors. This was an independent police and community initiative.
The mayor’s office provided six billboards free of charge for two weeks, a printing house agreed to print the signs without costs, the city lighting company hung the billboards at no charge, and the traffic police managed the safety of the whole operation.
The billboards hung in prominent places in Osh from 17 to 31 October 2012. Printed in Kyrgyz and Russian, they included contact information for the crisis centres, the police, and the State Department of Social Development.
The impact was indisputable. The Aruulan crisis centre reported that the number of visits from victims rose from 19 in August to over 100 in November. Thirty-four visitors asserted that the billboards had alerted them to the possibility of receiving assistance.
Another result of the campaign was that the police resolved to create a separate police register for gender-based violence.
I am content simply to be one part in that greater movement bringing new trust to Suleiman-too.
What impressed me most was the way the district came together to see this project through. No costs were incurred throughout the process and local people built respect and appreciation for one another. In a community which two years prior was torn apart through conflict, partnerships were being fashioned out of mutual concern for their fellow residents’ well-being.
Change was never going to be overnight in Kyrgyzstan. Change is never that fast anywhere. But undeniable progress is being made. I see it every day in my work, in the attitude of my counterparts who are more appreciative of what has been achieved, in the public’s more positive view of the police. I am content simply to be one part in that greater movement bringing new trust to Suleiman-too.