Your job matters when you have helped more than 1,000 torture survivors.
A long-time NHC partner in Kyrgyzstan is combating torture. Since 2003, the organisation Kylym Shamy has provided legal aid to more than 1,000 victims of torture.
“Torture will never be eradicated in Kyrgyzstan as long as there is no genuine political will among the country’s leadership to tackle the problem,” says Aziza Abdirasulova, the founder of the organisation.
She underscores the necessity of continuing the organisation’s important work. In recent years, Kylym Shamy has submitted six individual torture cases to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. “We have worked with the NHC since 2011 in a range of fields including, ethnic discrimination, the rule of law and torture, as well as human rights in the struggle against extremism and terrorism.”
In the fight against terrorism, protecting fundamental human rights is becoming even more important in Kyrgyzstan, where the rights of suspected terrorists are routinely violated and court hearings take place behind closed doors. Kyrgyzstani law enforcement operate a shoot-to-kill policy towards suspected terrorists, circumventing legal procedures and the presumption of innocence.