KYRGYZSTAN Kyrgyz parliament calls for death penalty for pedophiles

They propose to hold a popular referendum, which requires the approval of President Sadyr Zhaparov. Humanitarian activist in disagreement with personal punishment contrary to international conventions. The phenomenon of violence against minors is growing in the country. Parents often go abroad to work and children are left without family protection.

Moscow () – Kyrgyz parliament members have presented a proposal introducing the death penalty for pedophiles. They want to hold a popular referendum, which now depends on the approval of President Sadyr Žaparov. A vast majority of parliamentarians gave the green light to the initiative.

However, humanitarian activist Nazgul Turdubekova, director of the League for the Defense of Children’s Rights, explained in an interview with Currenttime that she does not agree with the project. Ella Turdubekova recalls that “Kyrgyzstan is a democratic and civilized country, which has ratified the international covenant on civil and political rights and other UN conventions that reject this type of personal punishment, such as the death penalty.”

Regarding the problem of pedophilia, Turdubekova points out that the increase in sexual violence against children in the country is really worrying, and that “our legislation on the defense of children is so outdated from the moral point of view that it is incapable of to face the current challenges.” His foundation has repeatedly approached Parliament to request a redrafting of the children’s code, which would include the training of special forces to defend children from sexual violence in the place where they live, assigning a significant percentage of social workers to this task.

In the 30 years of Kyrgyz independence, “there has never been a single operator that specifically dealt with this problem, nor support for families at the local level,” recalls the activist, when this is absolutely necessary. “Under the conditions of our country, in one in four families children grow up practically without parents” due to labor migration. Children are left in the care of grandparents and other relatives, without the protection offered by parents.

Turdubekova observes that the experience of the different countries where the death penalty has been applied shows that the problem of sexual violence is not resolved or reduced: “It is not an effective method to prevent violence against children.” It would be much better to insist on the institution of social control on the ground. Unfortunately the deputies have not taken these proposals into account, repeats the leader of the League, when “precisely the relatives and neighbors are the ones who constitute the main threat to children.”

Not to mention that the death penalty “would cost much more than social assistance, because to apply the sentence you have to create special sections in prisons and hire executioners.” To conclude, Turdubekova affirms that “we run the risk of losing our image as a country with a human and democratic face, and in general we are worsening the situation of the defense of human rights, since we also observe that errors in sentences have increased considerably judicial”. In his opinion, judicial errors are revealed even in the most advanced countries in this regard, so “what can we say about Kyrgyzstan?”