WUNRN
KYRGYZSTAN - NEW LAW TOUGHENS
PENALTIES FOR BRIDE KIDNAPPING
6 February 2013 - “Women should be beaten every
day," says Kamilla,* repeating the grim words of her deceased sister’s
husband. At 19, he forcibly kidnapped her sister Kulipa for marriage. “The
marriage was a nightmare,” recalls Kamilla, trembling from the memory of her
sister’s suffering.
The
practice of bride kidnapping is widespread in
“According
to these ‘traditions’, when a Kyrgyz man wants to get married, he picks a bride
and starts to arrange her kidnapping. This is a grave violation of human
rights. Women often experience physical violence and rape. They feel humiliated
and see themselves as property,” explains 37-year-old Kamilla, a volunteer with
the Women Support Center NGO.
“My
sister experienced all of those terrible things and once she decided to finally
divorce him, she was killed by her husband.”
Her
husband was subsequently convicted for murder and is serving a jail sentence.
But
addressing the practice of bride-kidnapping remains a challenge. According to
data by the NGO Women Support Centre, which works to eliminate violence against
women, there are at least 11,800 cases of forced abduction of women and girls
every year in
In
a step in the right direction, on 20 December 2012, the Parliament approved
legislation toughening the penalty for the widely-practiced custom of
bride-kidnapping. The President of Kyrgyzstan, Almazbek Atambayev, gave the
amendment to the Criminal Code his official approval on 26 January 2013. Once
published in early February, the new sentence for forcing women into marriage
will now range up to 10 years. The offense was previously punishable by a
maximum three-year prison term.
Even
though
“According
to Article 36 of the Constitution, no marriage shall be registered without
benevolent and mutual consent of the parties to the marriage,” says Ainuru
Altybaeva, a Member of Parliament in the Kyrgyz Republic who initiated
amendments to Article 155 of the Penal Code, which increase penalties for “kidnapping
a women to marry her against her will.”
Ms.
Altybaeva and Kamilla, together with a wide range of NGOs, activists, artists,
sportsmen football federation, media and the private sector are active
participants of the UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE
to End Violence against Women Campaign in
Around 100 UNiTE activists took part in an activity to
install coloured flags in the center of the capital of
“Speak
out, tell your stories, don’t be afraid – this is how you become the agent of
change! You will break the chains, if you start fighting,” says Kamilla. This
is what she usually tells survivors who come to the Women Support Centre to
seek help. She works there as a volunteer to assist others who faced challenges
similar to that of her sister.
Advocacy
efforts by civil society groups, supported by UN Women, led to the final
approval of the legislation toughening the sanction for the broadly practiced
custom of bride-kidnapping.
“It
is an encouraging sign of the Kyrgyz Government’s commitment towards the
elimination of gender-based violence, and we shall certainly follow the
implementation of the new article,” said Sabine Machl, the UN Women
Representative in
*The names of the women mentioned in this article have
been changed in order to protect their identity.