Addressing Ethnic Tension in Kyrgyzstan

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  "authors": [
    "Martha Brill Olcott"
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    "Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center"
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  "programs": [
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  "projects": [
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  "regions": [
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Testimony

Addressing Ethnic Tension in Kyrgyzstan

The international community should focus on pressing the Kyrgyz government to respect the basic human rights of all their citizens and emphasize the importance of equality and accountability before the law.

By Martha Brill Olcott

Published on Jun 22, 2011

Source: June 22

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry recently issued its final report on last June’s clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks. In testimony before the Helsinki Commission, Martha Olcott explains the local reaction to the report and the social and political implications for Kyrgyzstan.

U.S. Policy Recommendations:

Help ensure accountability: The United States should support efforts to identify, apprehend, and prosecute those responsible for last summer’s violence.
Urge equal protection under law: The United States should press the Kyrgyz government to guarantee the basic human rights of all its citizens, and to afford them the same opportunities regardless of ethnicity.
Stick to the basics: The United States should emphasize a simple and universally applicable message of equality and accountability before the law and not dilute the primacy of this message by focusing on more controversial questions like renaming the country, or changing the constitutional status of minority languages, as the Independent Commission did.

Olcott concludes that the international community should focus on pressing the Kyrgyz government “to respect the basic human rights of all their citizens.” She argues that “this more limited approach might make us more effective in trying to ensure that peace prevails in Kyrgyzstan’s south. But there will be no guarantees.”

About the Author

Martha Brill Olcott

Former Senior Associate, Russia and Eurasia Program and, Co-director, al-Farabi Carnegie Program on Central Asia

Olcott is professor emerita at Colgate University, having taught political science there from 1974 to 2002. Prior to her work at the endowment, Olcott served as a special consultant to former secretary of state Lawrence Eagleburger.

Recent Work

In The Media
After Crimea: Will Kazakhstan be Next in Putin’s Reintegration Project?
- Martha Brill Olcott
Article
China’s Unmatched Influence in Central Asia
- Martha Brill Olcott

Security Central Asia Kyrgyz Republic

Carnegie India does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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