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Appeal of Bir Duino–Kyrgyzstan and the solidarity network: “Kyrgyzstan is in Danger!”

NewsBy news@labourmission.org2020-10-07

Given the acute conflict situation that has developed after the fraudulent elections, realising all the threats to the security of the citizens, the state and its economy, we urge all political groups to put aside their personal ambitions and unite all progressive forces to take urgent measures to ensure a peaceful transition, to prevent the further spread of violence and destabilization in the country.
We call on all political forces to act within the framework of the constitution to start the process of legitimizing the post-election situation and the peaceful transition of power in accordance with the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic and its international obligations. We understand the legitimate demands of the protesters who do not agree with the use of administrative resources and falsification of the elections results, the violent use of rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades by law enforcement agencies, when a young activist Altynbek uulu Umutbek died at the age of 19 and over 600 people were injured, more than a hundred of them are in hospitals.

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KYRGYZSTAN: RESPECT RIGHTS WHILE RESTORING ORDER

NewsBy news@labourmission.org2020-10-07

Law enforcement forces in Kyrgyzstan responding to protests and unrest should uphold human rights and the rule of law, including if provoked by some protesters, Human Rights Watch said today. Clashes between protesters and law enforcement on the evening of October 5, 2020, following the flawed October 4 parliamentary election, led to significant casualties, including 1 death and 164 hospitalizations, according to health officials cited in local media.

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Forced Labor Monitoring: Coronavirus Precautions Ignored for Cotton Pickers

NewsBy news@labourmission.org2020-10-07

Since the end of September large numbers of public sector workers have been sent to pick cotton. A total lack of coordination means that in some districts people have to travel to the fields in open pick-up trucks and even on foot. Quite a few children aged between 10 and 16 have been seen among the pickers, although officially there’s a ban on using minors. Children either go instead of their parents or in order to earn some money. Public sector workers can buy themselves out of cotton picking duties by paying pickers “from the street” to go in their place. The heads of public sector organizations are suspected of pocketing some of this money. The number of cotton pickers required from each profession varies from region to region. For example, schoolteachers in Turkmenabat have to give money for cotton picking twice a month and to go picking themselves two Sundays a month, while in some districts in Dashoguz teachers go only at the weekends and do not have to contribute any money during the week.

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PRELIMINARY CONCLUSION THE “ALTERNATIVA” CENTER UNDER THE HUMAN RIGHTS MOVEMENT BIR DUINO-KYRGYZSTAN WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF MONITORING AND EVALUATING THE PREPARATION AND CONDUCT OF THE PARLI

NewsBy news@labourmission.org2020-10-06

Electoral corruption: some political parties took advantage of the plight of the electorate and engaged in open and large-scale electoral bribery. The post-pandemic situation has shown the scale of poverty and hopelessness of many families in the country. There are novostroikas (new settlements) around Bishkek – new buildings, where mostly internal migrants live, who, as well as people living in risk zones in the regions of the country, turned out to be on the verge of survival. As a result, people took everything that some political parties offered. Unfortunately, almost no one conducted large-scale civic education programs for voters, taking into account the risks of the pandemic and the new challenges associated with the parliamentary elections on 4 October 2020. Key institutions designed to fight bribery reacted poorly, often did not react at all.

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FAO’s report “Tracking progress on food and agriculture-related SDG indicators”

NewsBy news@labourmission.org2020-10-06

FAO has launched the second edition of its report “Tracking progress on food and agriculture-related SDG indicators”. This year marks the 10-year countdown to the end-date of the 2030 Agenda. According to the data contained in the FAO report, collected before the COVID-19 pandemic, progress remains insufficient in the food and agriculture domain, suggesting that the world is not on track to meet the relevant targets by 2030.

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GAWU receives 2020 Labour Rights Defenders awards

NewsBy news@labourmission.org2020-10-03

Accra, Oct. 2, GNA – The General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Ghana, has received the 2020 Labour Rights Defenders Awards for its work to end child labour and advocacy for decent work in the cocoa sector.

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Kyrgyzstan: Medics suffer rights violations, pay high personal price during COVID-19 pandemic

NewsBy news@labourmission.org2020-09-25

Health workers in Kyrgyzstan have paid an astoundingly high personal price during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen them forced to work long hours, often without promised additional pay and sometimes with reduced pay, and subjected to a “prison-like” quarantine regime, Amnesty International said in a new report today. According to official data from the Ministry of Health, during the peak of the epidemic from mid-March to 22 July, 29 health workers died. However, unofficial sources put the figure at 40.

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Ashgabat Women Exasperated at Tacit Ban on Driving

NewsBy news@labourmission.org2020-09-22

Several women residents of Ashgabat disrupted the work of the State Traffic Police department in the capital’s 11th residential suburb at the end of last week. The women were trying to renew their driving licenses, but for two years now the Turkmen authorities have been refusing to accept women’s renewal applications.

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Kyrgyzstan cannot paper over death of Azimjon Askarov

NewsBy news@labourmission.org2020-09-22

The death of the award-winning journalist and human rights defender Azimjon Askarov on 25 July in a Kyrgyz jail was the culmination of a series of injustices and repeated flouting of accountability by the Kyrgyz government. His death – officially by pneumonia but probably of Covid-19 – is no reason to give up the fight for justice. On the contrary, it has become even more crucial that the EU, UN, and other multilateral institutions, governments and donors demand that the Kyrgyz government unconditionally complies with the nation’s commitments to human rights and the rule of law.

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Uzbek State Workers Say They’re Still Being Forced To Pick Cotton

NewsBy news@labourmission.org2020-09-17

Reports from Uzbekistan contradict the government’s claim that it has phased out its internationally-criticized policy of forcing citizens into farm fields to pick cotton every autumn. Under pressure from the Cotton Campaign, a worldwide coalition of human rights groups and businesses boycotting Uzbek cotton since 2010 over the use of child- and forced-labor in the country, officials in Tashkent say they have ended the practice.

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