Kyrgyzstan: What are Rights of the Child and How They Should be Protected

In Kyrgyzstan, they are declared in several documents:

• Children’s Code,
• UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,
• Family Code,
• Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic.

Each of these documents summarises that every child has a right to a family, protection, education, and other things. The child must be registered immediately upon birth. Speaking about non-material components, the child, just like the adult, has a right to development, respect, as well as:

• Communication with family members;
• Protection of their rights and interests, including from abuse by parents;
• Own opinion.

Speaking about material things, the laws declare that a minor Kyrgyzstani has a right to:

• Maintenance,
• Housing.

As of 2018, only 77 per cent of children in Kyrgyzstan lived with parents, whereas 8 per cent of children were left without parental care. This is the information provided in the Fifth periodic report on the implementation of the Child’s Rights Convention for 2014-2019.

According to the law, parents being direct carers of the child must create conditions for their development, including education, nurturing, health promotion. Their responsibilities also include preparation of the child to independent life in future.

According to the Family Code, both parents should nurture and contribute to their child’s development equally. They must not harm the physical and mental health of the child. If they fail to carry out their responsibilities, they will be held liable for that. Three legal acts specify the liability of parents for the failure to carry out their responsibilities towards children, namely:

• Administrative Code:

– if they fail to carry out their responsibilities regarding nurturing and education – 300 to 500 som,

– for wilful default on their responsibilities regarding nurturing and education – 500 to 1,000 som plus community service for 8 hours,

– actions resulting in underage drinking, drug abuse, vagrancy and beggary – 1,000 to 2,000 som.

• The Family Code specified restriction and deprivation of paternal rights in cases when:

– they evade their responsibilities, including payment of child maintenance,

– they refuse to take the child from the maternity hospital or similar facilities without valid excuse,

– they abuse their rights,

– they abuse their children and use physical, mental and sexual violence,

– they commit intentional crime against life and health of the child or a spouse,

– they permit vagrancy of children,

– they force them to work in difficult conditions,

– they are chronic alcoholics or drug addicts.

• The Criminal Code provides for punishment for the failure to carry out responsibilities plus mistreatment:

– fine ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 som or community work for 2 years, or restriction of liberty for 2 years or deprivation of freedom for the same period without the right to hold particular offices for up to three years.

The state’s responsibilities are made of three main components: healthcare, education and protection.

The first one on the list is healthcare. Every child has a right to receive qualified medical help.

The second one is the right to free education both at school and in a kindergarten. The main reasons why children cannot get education are personal, family and social factors. Among them are the need to earn money, departure of parents to earn money that makes teenagers look after younger children left in their care, various diseases in children, disabilities, various offences, etc.

According to the statistics, all regions of the republic show high levels of attendance in elementary and high schools, but Batken region (92%).  The lowest figures of attendance in high school are in the city of Osh (78%), Chui and Osh regions (79% each).

The government must provide free education quotas in universities to persons with disabilities.

Every child has a right to protection and housing. The state’s responsibilities are to ensure personal security of a child, including protection from physical, mental or sexual violence, mistreatment and abuse.

The minimum age is 16. This is the age that is considered minimum for employment and is set forth in the Labour Code. The minimum age limit can be reduced in the following cases:

• To 15 – in exceptional cases, upon agreement with the representative body of workers or with the authorised state body in the labour area;
• To 14 – with a written consent of one of the parents (a guardian, custodian) or Child Protection Services for performing light labour in spare time that does not harm their health and does not affect the process of education.

However, the Labour Code prohibits the following for children under 18:

• Child labour that can harm the health and development,
• Forced child labour regardless of forms of ownership,
• Labour at hazardous industries,
• All kinds of labour related to weight lifting.

The State Inspection for Ecological and Technical Safety is responsible for state control of the use of child labour.

According to the National Statistical Committee, 26.7 per cent of children in the republic are involved in child labour. Moreover, child labour is more widespread among boys rather than girls (33.6 and 19%, respectively). Children residing in the country take part in the economic activities more often than children residing in urban area do. The highest indicator of child labour among the regions is in Naryn region (40.5%), and the lowest indicators are in the cities of Bishkek (7.3%) and Osh (6.1%).

According to the Family Code, parents protect the rights of the child under 18. Afterwards, they can exercise their rights and obligations, including protection, on their own.

If parents or guardians violate the rights of the child, he/she can turn to the authorised children protection body. If the child is 14, he/she can go to court. People who learned about the violation of child’s rights must report it.

The list of state bodies protecting the rights of children contains:

• The government,
• Executive agencies,
• Local governments,
• Courts,
• Prosecutor’s office,
• Ombudsman.

Each of these bodies performs their functions to support activities of children. For example, the government develops national policy in the field of enforcement of children’s rights and interests and coordinates performance of other bodies, whereas local state administrations supervise the observance of their rights.

Since 2015, the Ministry of Social Development has the helpline for children – 111, which is available 24/7. Calls from all the regions of the republic are free of charge. Specialists provide consultations and recommendations, as well as provide counselling services.

Depending on the nature of calls, they are referred to responsible territorial subdivisions of state bodies. In 2020, the hotline received over 137 thousand calls or 377 calls per day.

In this case, guardians represent their needs and interests. But before appointing a guardian for the child, the authorised body responsible for the protection of children’s rights shall verify all information about potential guardians: material welfare, mental health, no record of convictions, and other things. In other words, all factors that ensure safe life for the child.

If the child cannot be adopted or cannot be appointed a guardian, they are placed into an orphanage.

According to the National Statistical Committee, in 2020, there were 14.3 thousand children placed in foster families, including 5.4 thousand full orphans, 8.4 thousand children under guardianship, and 5.9 thousand adopted children. In 2019, over 2 thousand children and adolescents under 18 years old were found to be left without parental care, including 592 full orphans.

1,055 children were placed under guardianship, 713 children were adopted, including 700 children by the Kyrgyz families, and 13 children by foreign citizens. In 2019, over 2 thousand orphans and children left without parental care resided in orphanages and boarding schools for orphaned children.

There are 143 boarding schools of all forms of ownership in the republic, including 61 public schools, 25 municipal schools, 45 private schools opened by non-governmental organisations, and 12 religious schools.

If the child is a victim of abuse, the court shall make the decision. The state must provide all necessary assistance ranging from medical to legal aid.

All expenses shall be payable out of the republican budget and deemed as legal expenses incurred under the criminal case. Thereafter, they shall be recovered from persons who abused the child.

In 2019, the National Statistical Committee together with international organisations carried out a cluster survey. Its results showed that 23% of children are exposed to only non-violent methods of discipline, 47.5% of children are exposed to physical punishment, and 5.4% – to severe physical punishment. 70% of children experienced psychological aggression.

According to the survey, 74.3% of children experienced either of the violent methods of discipline and share of children experiencing violent methods of discipline tends to grow with their age. Share of mothers who believe that physical punishment is needed was 8.9%, and the share of children who actually experienced physical punishment was 52.9%.

The Children’s Code of Kyrgyzstan has no term “children of migrant workers”. In 2019, the ombudsman’s office proposed to introduce this term as the children of migrant workers are left without maintenance.

According to the 2018 report of the State Migration Service, 640 thousand migrants from Kyrgyzstan work in Russia. All in all, there are about 710 thousand Kyrgyzstanis who are migrant workers. Moreover, nearly 4% of children have both parents abroad. 12% of children have at least one parent who resides abroad. Most of children whose parents reside abroad live in Batken, Dzhalal-Abad, Osh regions and the city of Osh.

According to the Children’s Code, if any facility or a person learns that a child is left without parents, they must report it to a local state authority. In turn, it will prepare a plan of protection within 10 days. However, according to the ombudsman’s report, children of migrant workers are not sought out, they are identified by selected social development bodies, local governments and boards for children’s affairs. But their measures are not sufficient.

“State bodies do not use systemic measures of prevention and control of child abuse. They fail to identify children who are in difficult life situations. Children of migrants fall into this category, too,” according to the report.

The Criminal Code of Kyrgyzstan provides for tough sentence for crimes committed against children, including life sentence. Moreover, crimes against children are deemed circumstances aggravating punishment.

The law divides children into two categories: juveniles (under 18) and minors (under 14). Punishment for crimes against both categories is almost equal. Except for a few clauses. Thus, according to the Criminal Code, a criminal shall be sentenced to 5-7.6 years in prison if he:

• Causes grievous bodily harm,
• Uses torture,
• Kidnaps,
• Uses labour of children under 18,
• Intimidates them into porn business.

A criminal shall be sentenced to 10-12.6 years in prison if he:

• Committed sexual abuse (rape)

Most of the crimes are punishable for up to 15 years, namely:

• Torture,
• Forced donorship,
• Violent sexual actions in perverted form against minors,
• Involvement of minors into prostitution,
• Trafficking of children,
• Use of minor children’s labour.

Life sentence may be imposed for the rape and homicide of minors.

For the most widespread crime in Central Asia – forced marriage of a minor – follows punishment, namely imprisonment for up to 5 years.

According to the cluster survey, the share of children aged 1 to 14 who were exposed to any punishment and/or aggression from their caretakers increased by 23% in 2014 to 2018.

Moreover, 609 children were exposed to ill treatment and abuse.  In 2018, 13 children died because of ill treatment, including 7 children who were exposed to ill treatment from their household members. Children of migrant parents often become the victims of ill treatment.

To protect the rights of children and to reduce the number of abuse cases against children, the government of Kyrgyzstan adopted a plan of actions to prevent ill treatment and violence against children in 2019.

According to the plan, 528 district headquarters resumed work to detect and prevent ill treatment and abuse against children in the families, including migrant workers, and children in difficult life situations. As a result, 102,406 children of migrant parents were identified in the beginning of 2019. The outreach work is in progress to prevent violence against children and to appoint guardians in case of parents’ departure.

Speaking about education, the updated registration system of children and school-aged adolescents is being used for supervision. Thus, the lists of children in the age of 5 to 16 are based on the information of household books of executive bodies, lists of temporary residents, house registers and lists of housing administrations. School principals, in turn, must submit lists of children who are absent from school for 10 days and more without valid excuse throughout the year.

As of today, international organisations also monitor protection of children’s rights. Among them are UNICEF, USAID, International Labour Office, and other organisations.

If you know that a child is left without parental care, you should report this fact to a local children protection office. For example, in Bishkek these are boards for children’s affairs and protection of their rights located in every district. You can contact them by the following phone numbers:

Sverdlovsky district administration – (0312) 36-07-07;

Leninsky district administration – (0312) 65-38-76;

Pervomaisky district administration – (0312) 66-15-37

Oktyabrsky district administration – (0312) 57-82-70

Helpline for children – 111

Helplines of regional interior affairs departments:

Main Department of Interior Affairs of Chui region: 0312 43-88-85, tel/fax 43-01-27

Interior Affairs Department of Osh region: 0312 29-10-12

Interior Affairs Department of Issyk-Kul region: 03922 5-45-05

Interior Affairs Department of Naryn region: 03522 5-15-72

Interior Affairs Department of Talas region: 03422 5-27-79

Interior Affairs Department of Zhalal-Abad region: 03722 7-05-30

Interior Affairs Department of Batken region: 03622 5-01-24

According to the Children’s Code, if school principals or a medical facility learns about the fact, they must report the fact to the agency responsible for children’s rights protection within 7 days. It, in turn, must make a plan for individual protection of a child within 10 days. You can also report the case to territorial subdivisions responsible for children’s rights protection and the Office for Social Development:

• Sverdlovsky district – (0312) 53-04-16, (0312) 36-01-09
• Leninsky district – (0312) 89-70-69, (0312) 65-37-48.
• Oktyabrsky district – (0312) 51-02-01, (0312) 42-68-84.
• Pervomaisky district – (0312) 56-52-18, (0312) 56-25-66.

If you learn that a child is exposed to violence, including sexual violence, you should report it to the law enforcement bodies and the local office of the agency for the protection of children. You can report it directly to law enforcement bodies:

Police – 102

Emergency ambulance – 103

Ministry of Interior Affairs – (0312) 66-23-31

Main Department of Internal Affairs – (0312) 43-71-68

Interior Affairs Department of Chui region — 0312 43 88 85;

Interior Affairs Department of Osh region — 03222 5 59 10;

Interior Affairs Department of Talas region — 03422 5 29 98;

Interior Affairs Department of Issyk-Kul region — 03922 5 24 14;

Interior Affairs Department of Zhalal-Abad region — 03722 5 66 66;

Interior Affairs Department of Naryn region — 03522 5 09 21;

Interior Affairs Department of Batken region — 03622 5 00 15;

Call centre of the Ministry of Interior Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic — 0312 66 23 31;

According to the Children’s Code, a child shall be provided with a safe place by the responsible body. Examinations and other necessary measures shall be held for 10 days to investigate the fact of violence or a crime against the minor. The time may be extended by authority of the prosecutor or the court.

If you have any information that a child is being exposed to violence, you should call the following phone numbers:

• Hotline of the Centre for children victims of violence and ill treatment – (0312) 54-29-34.
• Hotline of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection –
• Centre for children victims of violence and ill treatment – (0312) 44-25-20, 44-25-74.
• Child Rights Defenders’ League – (0312) 66-25-87.
• Hotline of akyikatchy (during working hours) — 115
• Hotline of the Ministry of Interior Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic — 0312 26 64 18
• Hotline for children — 111
• System-112 — 112
• Public security service of the Ministry of Interior Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic — 0312 26 62 83.