Every year, according to official government data, between seven and nine thousand very young girls get married in Kyrgyzstan, and about 500 girls aged 13 to 17 become mothers.
Girls are still at risk of falling prey to activities like “ala kachuu,” which literally means “pick up and run” in Kyrgyzstan. In other words, they were kidnapped and forced into marriage.
Byubyusara Ryskulova, psychologist and director of ‘Sezim’ (‘Trust’ in Kyrgyzstan), the country’s first crisis center, founded 25 years ago to defend the rights of women and girls have a difficult life situation and provide them with temporary housing, as well as legal and psychological support.
In the 25 years since the center’s founding, more than 45,000 women have used the hotline, and about 35,000 have received legal and psychological counseling.
According to Ms. Ryskulova, the continued existence of these practices can be partly explained by the growing influence of religion, unemployment and poverty, especially in rural areas.
“The legal age of marriage is 18, and the abduction of a girl child has been criminalized. Unfortunately, these laws are not always respected. Instead of a formal marriage, people often hold a religious ceremony in a mosque, called a ‘nikah’. ”
“Families in the village no longer have seven or eight children, but raising four or five children is not easy for parents. Many of them seek to bring their daughters into richer families. As a rule, the parties agree to each other, and everything happens in silence.
“However, later growing up, when women can no longer tolerate domestic violence, women come to us for help. That’s when we found out that they were married against their will, robbed and secretly married,” Ms. Ryskulova said.
Sezim Social Center, Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyz women go to specialized centers to seek protection from domestic violence. Sezim Social Center, Kyrgyzstan
Laws ignored
The law allows “nikah” to be held in mosques only after the couple turns 18, and if they are underage, the penalty is imprisonment for a term of three to five years. For the act of kidnapping the bride, the law stipulates a penalty of 10 years in prison.
It is rare, though, that all those involved in such a “deal” are brought to justice. “Writing a law is easy, but it also has to be done,” Ms. Ryskulova said. “Currently, we are monitoring about eight criminal cases involving the rape of young girls.”
Most cases are concentrated in three, mostly conservative, regions in the south of the country: Osh, Jalabad and Batken. Darika Asylbekova, head of the Ak Zhurok (Pure Heart) crisis center in Osh, says that the number of early marriages has increased since 2010.
“Parents married their daughter in ninth grade. They are afraid that after graduating from school and going to the city, their daughter will be “spoiled” and after that, will not be able to get married.
As a result, the girls, because of family life, could not go to school. Family duties fall on their shoulders, followed by pregnancy and child care. All educational or career opportunities are gone and as housewives, they are completely dependent on their husbands.
This year alone, about 1,500 young women have turned to Ak Zhurok for help. Not only do they ask for temporary shelter, but they also get support with employment, division of property, and alimony, because, as a rule, those who have not yet formalized their marriage will have nothing left.
Sezim Social Center, Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyz women go to specialized centers to seek protection from domestic violence.
Shame and guilt
Even in the South, however, attitudes are changing. In rural areas, there are about 154 divorces per thousand marriages, while in cities the number is 2.4 times higher.
Author of the popular Kyrgyz blog “A Girl’s Dream,” Aigerim Almanbetova, 24, belongs to a generation of modern Kyrgyz women who are trying to understand the circumstances many of her peers find themselves in. encountered.
“In my opinion, another reason for early marriage, besides religion, is family upbringing. We have the mentality that a girl should get married as soon as possible because by age, she is already considered an old maid. Therefore, women are subjected to psychological pressure from a young age.
“Girls are constantly told that they are going to live with their husbands, that they have to start a family, have children. In that case, why spend money on her education,” continued Ms. Almanbetova.
She added that they also face a cultural perception of shame, which causes many of them to stay with abusive husbands and endure physical abuse for years. According to this blogger, Kyrgyz society needs to change the way men are raised, starting from childhood.
The involvement of the United Nations led to a reduction in cases
Recently, however, the number of child marriage cases has been decreasing, thanks to the prevention work of NGOs and government agencies, with the support of international organizations.
In January 2020, with the cooperation of the Kyrgyz government, the European Union and the United Nations launched a multi-year national program as part of a global Spotlight Initiative eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls.
The program covers a wide range of measures in the field of policy and legislation: strengthening institutions, preventing violence, providing services to victims of violence, collecting quality data and providing support women’s movement and civil society.
For empowered women like Almanbetova, this is the right direction Kyrgyzstan should take: “I am not against getting married and I dream of it in the future. But the main approach should be the wishes of the girl herself, and not of her parents.
“The times when a woman was considered second-rate must be a thing of the past. This has become a serious drag on the development of our society.”
