WUNRN
In the aftermath of violence in
"The first time we speak out to take away the anger. The second time we look to the causes of violence. And maybe the third time we have a conversation."
· Often
called the
It was July, just weeks after violence had erupted in our country, killing hundreds of people and displacing hundreds of thousands. We were gathered in a room, looking out at buildings that had been burned to the ground: Kyrgyz and Uzbek women, meeting face to face for the first time since the conflict erupted and pitted us against each other.
Some of us had lost our houses; others had lost family members. We had witnessed violence; we had been the victims of violence. We were angry. Before June, we had been neighbors. Now, many of us were shouting at each other.
When the violence happened, I felt how deeply women had been affected. As the president of the Forum of Women’s NGOs of Kyrgyzstan, I also knew that women could take on a critical peacebuilding role after conflict. As women leaders from different ethnic groups, I knew we needed to meet each other to begin peace talks. But I was nervous. Our country had never before been through a conflict on this scale, and I had no experience in organizing peace and mediation talks.
Growing up, I lived amongst Kyrgyz, Germans, Russians, Roma, Uyghur, Uzbeks,
Ukrainians, and many other ethnic groups. In
The violence of June 10th presented itself as ethnic violence, but tension between Kyrgyz and Uzbek ethnic groups was not the only cause. Political turmoil, unemployment, growing migration, criminal activity, and the rising influence of fundamentalist Islamic groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir are other likely factors. Under these conditions, simmering ethnic tensions were easily ignited and the conflict was fueled by disinformation and rumors.
I first visited
Now, over a month later, curfews were still in place, rumors were still swirling, and Uzbeks and Kyrgyz were still blaming each other for what happened. There were some NGOs talking to each other, but on the community level there was a kind of silence. By starting a process of face to face meetings in the affected regions, we hoped to break the silence.
Our first meeting began in anger, but as the women took turns speaking out and expressing their pain, we found ourselves crying together. Slowly we began to talk, and by the end of the meeting we had made the decision to go forward and continue peace talks.
We discovered that we needed to let our anger out while we were in one room, looking at each others' faces. Only then were we able to cry together about what we have lost. Meeting with these women was an emotional experience that reminded us that pain has no ethnicity.
This conflict has been a complete nightmare—especially for women. I have
heard so many stories of women and girls from both ethnic groups who have been
raped, beaten, disappeared, taken hostage, forced to flee their homes, wounded,
and killed. During my first visit to
Part of the healing process is to document the violations that have happened
during the conflict. When I first visited
There are areas of the country where it is still very difficult to enter and investigate because of continuing tensions. We are doing our best to track the cases, knowing that for every girl or woman who comes forward to report rape and brutality against her, there are others who are afraid to report it. Documenting the violence is an enormous task, but if these cases aren’t addressed, the escalation of violence will continue. The violators must be brought to answer for these crimes.
It will take time to rebuild trust and peace. Our talks must continue in order to be effective. In each region, we’ve found we need to have at least three meetings. The first time we speak out to take away the anger and we cry together. The second time we look to the causes of violence. And maybe the third time we have a conversation and begin to plan and network together. I hope we can eventually work together to create joint security measures. I would like to see us set up solidarity networks and a system to inform each other when something is going wrong so that together we can address any issues.
The state and other actors have not been able to maintain peace in our
country; as women, it is time for us to step in. In
I know from what I have experienced during these first meetings between
Kyrgyz and Uzbek women community leaders that the women of
It is time that we, as women, step forward and take charge to maintain peace
and security in