Human Rights Defender Tolekan Ismailova Stands Against Kyrgyzstan’s Patriarchal System

Water resources are scarce in the landlocked Kyrgyzstan Republic (KR)–a former Central Asian Soviet republic bordering Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and China. Divisions among its 80 ethnicities plague the 6.5 million populated country where 75% are farmers. The deeply rooted patriarchal, clan-based politics, corruption, drug and human trafficking mask measures of oppression.

The water flow into rural farmlands is an economic lifeblood of the region. In late April, the Kyrgyz-Tajik border water disputes escalated into a four-day war with sophisticated military artillery. The Kyrgyzstan government agencies reported 36 people were killed, over 156 injured, 220 facilities destroyed throughout the region and over 40,000 people were evacuated or fled from the border villages.

“We monitor the situation to ensure the conflict stops. Our members, together with international experts are documenting military aggression by the Tajik authorities for the International Criminal Court to fight impunity. After the tragedy the need for medical and psychological support increased with no resources available to help the people in need,” explains Tolekan Ismailova, French Republic’s Prize “Freedom, Equality and Fraternity” winner and director of Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan (BDK)–One World Kyrgyzstan–which offers legal advice, advocates for women’s, labor and land rights, election monitoring and freedom for human rights defenders. To increase civil participation among the youth and marginalized groups, BDK uses the frameworks of the Republic’s Constitution.

An active drug smuggling route from Afghanistan through Tajikistan and southern Kyrgyzstan, keeps the region “managed by criminals pocketing millions of dollars from contrabands and masking conflicts as water disputes,” says Ismailova. She’s critical of the Kyrgyz government’s failures to build a proper infrastructure for the small towns and villages deprived of transportation, functioning healthcare system, schools, and roads. High unemployment and lack of opportunities forces most men to seek employment in Russia to support their families in border villages “occupied by drug traffickers.” While the border guards and officials pocket kickbacks from the traffickers, she says the rest of the Kyrgyz society receives no social support.

“There are no conflicts between the border population–only drugs and contraband issues that are overtaking our society,” Ismailova says soldiers and officials appear at the border checkpoints only when drug traffickers are traveling through “so they can pocket kick-backs.” There’s camaraderie between Tajiks and Kyrgyz, she says–Kyrgyz people cross the border to be treated in more advanced Tajik hospitals and health clinics. Conflicts brew because the “politicians are trafficking women and drugs,” says Ismailova who recruited other NGOs as Ensan Diamond, the Union of Cinematographers of the Kyrgyz Republic, and support from the public broadcasting company Yntymak, on a fact-finding mission to document testimonies by survivors of the recent water war who were tortured and later released by the Tajik authorities. The Ombudsman’s Office, General Prosecutor’s Office, President’s Office and Security Council received video testimonials and medical documents of the survivors.

Combating Women’s Rights, Civic Activism Violations

Patriarchal violence and various forms of intimidation against civic activists is an accepted norm in Kyrgyzstan. Masked vigilantes often attack meetings, gatherings and events as during this year’s March 8th Women’s Day remembrance.

Ismailova was one of the founders of the Forum of Kyrgyzstan NGO in 1996 which helped adopt the first law, in 1999, on the formation of NGOs as independent candidates joined the Parliament for the first time in the history of the Kyrgyz Republic. As founder and President of the Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society NGO, she united the country’s NGO sector on civil society and elections monitoring and helped pass a 1998 election code. She and her colleagues were labeled “foreign agents and spies” by the local authorities–which led to the first persecution of her and her colleagues for civic activism and fair elections. Completing a Reagan Fascell Democracy Program, Ismailova returned to her homeland in 2003. On December 2007 she was arrested with youth activists, as a part of the “I don’t believe” campaign as demonstrators protested the irregularities of the December 16 Parliamentary election–as pointed out by the OSCE election observation mission in Kyrgyzstan.

Her network of 98,000 activists across Kyrgyzstan gave birth to Citizens Against Corruption which led to the founding of the Human Rights Movement: Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan (BDK) which also sponsors the International Documentary Film Festival on Human Rights, providing a platform for young filmmakers and activists from different countries. After the Festival’s 2012 screening of “I’m gay, I’m a Muslim” documentary, the central intelligence agencies labeled Ismailova and her family “extremist and promoters of inter-ethnic and inter-religious conflicts.”

The former Kyrgyzstan president, Almazbek Atambayev, accused Ismailova and another activist, Aziza Abdirasulova, for working to overthrow his government with support and funding from foreign secret services. In response, Ismailova and Abdirasulova filed a court case against the president for insulting their “honor and dignity” demanding an official apology–which was never granted.

As part of its ongoing campaigns, BDK continues to demand accountability for the death of human rights activist Azimzhan Askarov–an ethnic Uzbek Kyrgyzstani whose Vozdukh (Air) NGO investigated police brutality. He was arrested and given a life sentence for documenting the 2010 South Kyrgyzstan ethnic clashes which targeted Uzbek nationals and resulted in 400 deaths. Askarov’s failing health while in custody was dismissed by prison authorities. He died in custody last July.

In an open appeal to Kyrgyz President, Sadyr Japarov, BDK requested on behalf of Askarov’s family, human rights defenders, and the international community to “restore the rule of law and justice” calling for Askarov’s posthumous acquittal. It also requested compensation for the family and brought charges against officials involved in Askarov’s death.

“This will help Kyrgyzstan regain its image and status as an independent state, in the UN, OSCE, and the European Union, as a country committed to universal values, humanity, and justice, respecting human rights of each person, fighting against impunity in the world, and aiming for sustainable development,” reads the appeal. Restoring Askarov’s human rights the appeal hopes to regain trust in the government, “trampled during the 30 years of independence by corrupt officials and the family-clan system.”

Supported by many NGOs, Ismailova also works closely with 33-year-old Aida Kasymalieva, Kyrgyzstan’s youngest female parliamentarian and a former journalist who covered women’s issues, child brides and bride kidnappings. When Kasymalieva raised recognition and resolution of these issues during a parliament session, her male colleagues simply walked out.

Working Against Patriarchal Norms

Born on the shores of Issyk Kul Lake, the seventh deepest lake in the world in the Northern Tien Shan Mountains in Eastern Kyrgyzstan, Ismailova mentions the gold mining, high in the mountains that is “crumbling glaciers while systematic corruption, impunity of former high-level officials is threatening environmental security.”

Her grandmother, who fled with her family from the persecution of the Tsarist colonial regime in 1916, told her stories of little girls sold or exchanged for food in the Xinjiang Uyghur region of China. Questioning why boys didn’t meet similar fate, her grandmother had said “smiling sadly ‘grow up, you’ll understand.’”

Luckily Ismailova’s father, a Kyrgyz language and literature teacher and a World War II veteran, was against patriarchal norms and supported his daughter’s educational endeavors. With a degree in foreign languages from the National University she “grew up as an equal in a family with brothers.” Her husband, journalist Asylbek Ismailov, was also supportive and the couple, outspoken critics of Kyrgyzstan’s patriarchal, clan politics and corruption, discovered “an alternative world, breaking down the stereotypes and stigmas of patriarchal society.” Labeled as an “outsider” family for their human rights and civil society work, delivering speeches and publishing articles against cronyism, they became targets of state-backed attacks and harassment.

“We loved each other very much–we were outsiders wanting to break the patriarchal society,” Ismailova says when their daughter was born (now a human rights attorney focused on prison reforms) they criticized her husband for not being “man enough” to have a son. When her husband’s GI problems led to his hospitalization, they deprived him of proper medical care, which led to his death in 2008. She’s certain his death was an extension of the systematic harassment which deprived him of proper medical care.

As a 67-year-old human rights activist, Ismailova continues to risk her life daily. Her three grandchildren often remind their ‘Babushka’ to be attentive and careful.

“This is my life. While they eradicate extrajudicial executions in closed institutions, corruption and impunity are killing us,” says Ismailova smiling. “Of course, I worry about my life, but I have the support of many people. When I am in trouble, my friends call me to encourage me to continue–and together we fight without violence. This is my life.”