Situation of sex workers in Kyrgyzstan deteriorates significantly in 2016

Situation of sex workers in Kyrgyzstan in 2016 deteriorated significantly. This is stated in the special report of the Ombudsman «Access to Justice: Main Problems," published in 2017.

Human rights activists note that the activity of sex workers is neither a criminal offense nor an administrative offense in the republic. At the same time, the Main Department of Internal Affairs openly states that other articles of administrative code are used to punish this category of people.

«Bishkek’s Main Department of Internal Affairs conducts systematic raids and calls on citizens to help them in this. So, in violation of the right to privacy, the police ask citizens to photograph sex workers and send their photos to the police. Such a call unleashes the hands of the movements and often leads to lynching, authorized by the state," the report says.

«In Osh, for example, groups of young people who attack sex workers openly beat them on the street, undress and shoot on the camera. In one such case, the police were nearby, saw what was happening, but didn’t take any action. Sex workers flatly refused to write a statement because of threats of reprisal up to the murder," human rights activists added.

The report notes that the level of discrimination is high for both injecting drug users and LGBT communities.