Kyrgyzstan
03.05.04
Urgent Interventions
Kyrgyzstan: Forced Eviction of 64 Families in Bishkek
OMCT/HIC-HLRN
JOINT URGENT ACTION APPEAL:
Forced Eviction of 64 Families in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Case KGZ–FE 030504.ESCR
The Coordination Office of the Housing and Land Rights Network of Habitat International Coalition (HIC-HLRN) and the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT) request your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Kyrgyzstan.
Brief Description
The Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights, a member of the OMCT network, has informed OMCT that, on 30 March 2004, law enforcement officials forcibly evicted 64 families from a building attached to a slaughterhouse in Bishkek. The 64 families, comprised of 327 people (201 children), were living in the building since 1999. Kulboldiev Almaz (deputy director of the slaughterhouse) accompanied the law enforcement officials during this operation. These evictions were carried out without notice and the inhabitants were not provided with any adequate alternative housing.
Because of beatings by the law enforcement officials during the eviction, Mambetalieva Buukadicha was hospitalised. It is reported that the evicted persons are now living outside in the cold, on the streets where they have no shelter. They have gone days without eating and many of the children are reportedly sick with fevers. A 25-year-old disabled woman, Mambetalieva Ayim, was hospitalised after the eviction because of a chill, and she died on 6 April 2004.
Background Information
It is reported that people who have migrated to Bishkek from other regions took up occupancy in the slaughterhouse hostel building in 1999. The building is unfinished and not fully habitable, having no plumbing or electricity. The majority of inhabitants work in the informal market sector.
The building used to belong to the Bishkek City Administration, but ownership passed to private owners of the slaughterhouse in 2000. Although the purported reason for the eviction is that the slaughterhouse wants the space, unofficial sources report that the slaughterhouse is making efforts to sell the space as apartments once the construction of the building is finished.
There is suspicion that the local authorities are involved in this eviction effort, because the law enforcement representatives present with the Deputy Director would not have been there without an order from their superiors.
There were reportedly judicial processes against six of the evicted families that were carried out without the families’ participation. The tribunal decided that those six families should vacate, but the tribunal’s decision was never served to the families in written form. It was also reported that the inhabitants requested permission to stay in the building at least until the weather was warmer, but they received no response to this request.
International Human Rights Law
The practices reported here contravene the inhabitants’ human right to adequate housing; i.e., the right of all women, men and children to gain and sustain a secure place to live in peace and dignity. The local law enforcement and administrative authorities, especially violate the peoples’ entitlements to security of tenure; livelihood; location; freedom from dispossession; participation and self-expression; safe environment; physical security and adequate compensation for violations and losses. All are elements of the human right to adequate housing as recognized in international law. It should be noticed here that all these elements, to be considered as respected, should be obtained in an environment of self-determination, nondiscrimination, gender equality, rule of law, and nonregressivity.
Specifically, the authorities have breached their treaty obligations under articles 2, 4, 5, 11 and 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which Kyrgyzstan acceded to on 7 October 1994. The State has been derelict in its obligations as elaborated in the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights General Comments Nos. 4 and 7 on the human right to adequate housing, including protection from forced eviction. Furthermore, the law enforcement authorities have not respected Mambetalieva Buukadicha’s right against ill treatment, as guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in its Article 9, which Kyrgyzstan acceded to on 7 January 1995.
Action requested
Please write to the authorities in Kyrgyzstan urging them to:
§ take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of the families who have been dispossessed of their shelter;
§ provide the dispossessed families with shelter and protection from the cold on an urgent basis and ensure that they are offered adequate alternative housing, rehabilitation and compensation;
§ guarantee medical care for Mambetalieva Buukadicha;
§ ensure that there is an impartial and thorough investigation into the circumstances of these events, in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;
§ guarantee the right to adequate housing of the evicted families, with particular attention to ensuring the following elements: security of tenure, freedom from dispossession; location; participation; compensation, restitution and rehabilitation; safe environment and physical security, as recognized in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, among others;
§ respect, defend, promote and fulfil human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with international human rights standards.
Addresses:
Pres. Askar Akayev
President of the Kyrgyz Republic
720003 g. Bishkek
Prospekt Chuy, 205
Kyrgyzskaya Respublika
Fax: +996 312 218–627
Email: ghpress2@rhl.bishkek.su
H.E. Mr. Nikolai Tanaev
Prime Minister
Bishkek
Kyrgyzskaya Respublika
Fax: +996 312 218–627
H.E. Mr. Bakirdin Subanbekov
Minister of the Interior
Bishkek
Kyrgyzskaya Respublika
Fax: +996 312 663–031/ +996 312 288–788
Mr. Kurmanbek Osmonov
Minister of Justice
Bishkek
Kyrgyzskaya Respublika
Fax: +996 312 663–044
Ambassadeur Shaimergenova Zeinep
Mission permanente de la République Kirghize
Rue Maunoir 26
1207 Genève, Switzerland
Fax : +41 (0)22 707–9221
E-mail: kyrgyzmission@bluewin.ch
**************
Geneva - Cairo, 3 May 2004
Kindly inform OMCT and HIC of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply to: omct@omct.org and urgentactions@hlrn.org.
The joint urgent appeals of OMCT and HIC-HLRN are dedicated to the protection of the right to adequate housing.
**************
JOINT URGENT ACTION APPEAL:
Forced Eviction of 64 Families in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Case KGZ–FE 030504.ESCR
The Coordination Office of the Housing and Land Rights Network of Habitat International Coalition (HIC-HLRN) and the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT) request your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Kyrgyzstan.
Brief Description
The Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights, a member of the OMCT network, has informed OMCT that, on 30 March 2004, law enforcement officials forcibly evicted 64 families from a building attached to a slaughterhouse in Bishkek. The 64 families, comprised of 327 people (201 children), were living in the building since 1999. Kulboldiev Almaz (deputy director of the slaughterhouse) accompanied the law enforcement officials during this operation. These evictions were carried out without notice and the inhabitants were not provided with any adequate alternative housing.
Because of beatings by the law enforcement officials during the eviction, Mambetalieva Buukadicha was hospitalised. It is reported that the evicted persons are now living outside in the cold, on the streets where they have no shelter. They have gone days without eating and many of the children are reportedly sick with fevers. A 25-year-old disabled woman, Mambetalieva Ayim, was hospitalised after the eviction because of a chill, and she died on 6 April 2004.
Background Information
It is reported that people who have migrated to Bishkek from other regions took up occupancy in the slaughterhouse hostel building in 1999. The building is unfinished and not fully habitable, having no plumbing or electricity. The majority of inhabitants work in the informal market sector.
The building used to belong to the Bishkek City Administration, but ownership passed to private owners of the slaughterhouse in 2000. Although the purported reason for the eviction is that the slaughterhouse wants the space, unofficial sources report that the slaughterhouse is making efforts to sell the space as apartments once the construction of the building is finished.
There is suspicion that the local authorities are involved in this eviction effort, because the law enforcement representatives present with the Deputy Director would not have been there without an order from their superiors.
There were reportedly judicial processes against six of the evicted families that were carried out without the families’ participation. The tribunal decided that those six families should vacate, but the tribunal’s decision was never served to the families in written form. It was also reported that the inhabitants requested permission to stay in the building at least until the weather was warmer, but they received no response to this request.
International Human Rights Law
The practices reported here contravene the inhabitants’ human right to adequate housing; i.e., the right of all women, men and children to gain and sustain a secure place to live in peace and dignity. The local law enforcement and administrative authorities, especially violate the peoples’ entitlements to security of tenure; livelihood; location; freedom from dispossession; participation and self-expression; safe environment; physical security and adequate compensation for violations and losses. All are elements of the human right to adequate housing as recognized in international law. It should be noticed here that all these elements, to be considered as respected, should be obtained in an environment of self-determination, nondiscrimination, gender equality, rule of law, and nonregressivity.
Specifically, the authorities have breached their treaty obligations under articles 2, 4, 5, 11 and 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which Kyrgyzstan acceded to on 7 October 1994. The State has been derelict in its obligations as elaborated in the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights General Comments Nos. 4 and 7 on the human right to adequate housing, including protection from forced eviction. Furthermore, the law enforcement authorities have not respected Mambetalieva Buukadicha’s right against ill treatment, as guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in its Article 9, which Kyrgyzstan acceded to on 7 January 1995.
Action requested
Please write to the authorities in Kyrgyzstan urging them to:
§ take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of the families who have been dispossessed of their shelter;
§ provide the dispossessed families with shelter and protection from the cold on an urgent basis and ensure that they are offered adequate alternative housing, rehabilitation and compensation;
§ guarantee medical care for Mambetalieva Buukadicha;
§ ensure that there is an impartial and thorough investigation into the circumstances of these events, in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;
§ guarantee the right to adequate housing of the evicted families, with particular attention to ensuring the following elements: security of tenure, freedom from dispossession; location; participation; compensation, restitution and rehabilitation; safe environment and physical security, as recognized in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, among others;
§ respect, defend, promote and fulfil human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with international human rights standards.
Addresses:
Pres. Askar Akayev
President of the Kyrgyz Republic
720003 g. Bishkek
Prospekt Chuy, 205
Kyrgyzskaya Respublika
Fax: +996 312 218–627
Email: ghpress2@rhl.bishkek.su
H.E. Mr. Nikolai Tanaev
Prime Minister
Bishkek
Kyrgyzskaya Respublika
Fax: +996 312 218–627
H.E. Mr. Bakirdin Subanbekov
Minister of the Interior
Bishkek
Kyrgyzskaya Respublika
Fax: +996 312 663–031/ +996 312 288–788
Mr. Kurmanbek Osmonov
Minister of Justice
Bishkek
Kyrgyzskaya Respublika
Fax: +996 312 663–044
Ambassadeur Shaimergenova Zeinep
Mission permanente de la République Kirghize
Rue Maunoir 26
1207 Genève, Switzerland
Fax : +41 (0)22 707–9221
E-mail: kyrgyzmission@bluewin.ch
**************
Geneva - Cairo, 3 May 2004
Kindly inform OMCT and HIC of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply to: omct@omct.org and urgentactions@hlrn.org.
The joint urgent appeals of OMCT and HIC-HLRN are dedicated to the protection of the right to adequate housing.
**************