Impunity remains a problem in Kyrgyzstan. Annual report of the U.S. Department of State on human rights for 2018 says.
«While the government took steps to investigate and prosecute or punish officials known to have committed human rights abuses, especially those involved in corrupt activities, official impunity remained a problem,» the report stresses.
The main human rights issues in the country last year included law enforcement and security services officers’ use of torture and arbitrary arrest; site blocking and criminal libel in practice; pervasive corruption; human trafficking, including forced labor; attacks and other bias-motivated violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) persons and members of ethnic minority groups; violence against women and forced marriage; and child labor.
The law prohibits torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. Nevertheless, physical abuse, including inhuman and degrading treatment, reportedly continued in prisons. Police abuse reportedly remained a problem, notably in pretrial detention. As in 2017, defense attorneys, journalists, and human rights monitoring organizations, including international ones, reported incidents of torture by police and other law enforcement agencies.
As for freedom of expression, NGO leaders and media rights advocates acknowledged a more relaxed press environment under the Jeenbekov administration, noting a clear drop in libel lawsuits against independent media outlets and the withdrawal of existing cases launched under the previous administration.
The report also notes that despite the law specifically prohibits domestic violence and spousal abuse in the republic, violence against women and girls remained a significant yet underreported problem.
Many crimes against women went unreported due to psychological pressure, economic dependence, cultural traditions, fear of stigma, and apathy among law enforcement officers.
