World Report 2011 - Human Rights Watch

WORLD REPORT 2011In October two unknown men threatened the program coordinator ofSpravedlivost (Justice), based in the southern city of Jalal-Abad, for providing freelegal assistance to defendants in cases related to the June violence.ElectionsParliamentary elections on October 10 and the election campaign that precededthem were conducted in a peaceful and rather pluralistic manner—an importantstep towards future free and fair elections. The Office for Democratic Institutionsand Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe(OSCE) noted a number of shortcomings though, especially regarding electionlegislation and the accuracy of voter lists.Key International ActorsA unified international community expressed concern about the April 2010 disturbances,quickly condemned the June violence, and called for the restoration oflaw and order. It also called for objective investigations into the events. However,key governments and international organizations such as Russia, the CollectiveSecurity Treaty Organization (CSTO), and the UN Security Council were much morehesitant to take necessary measures to protect the civilian population. Despitecalls from the Kyrgyz authorities during the June violence, no international bodyproved ready to deploy stabilization forces.Six weeks after violence erupted in June OSCE participating states reached anagreement, at the Kyrgyz government’s request, to deploy a small unarmed internationalpolice force to the region in a monitoring and advisory role. The Kyrgyzgovernment also requested the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s special envoy forCentral Asia establish an independent international commission of inquiry intothe June 2010 violence. Due to disagreement within the Kyrgyz government aboutboth initiatives, their deployment was postponed until after the October 10 election.At this writing the international commission has commenced its work, whilethe government continues to hold up the deployment of the police advisorygroup.454