UN high commissioner concerned by ethnic situation in Kyrgyzstan
BISHKEK. July 11 (Interfax) - The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay has criticized the ethnic discrimination in southern Kyrgyzstan and ethnic minorities' access to fair trial.
An extremely serious problem is discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, gender and religion, and the extremely low level of representation of ethnic and national minorities in governmental agencies, law enforcement and judicial systems, Pillay told reporters in Bishkek on Tuesday.
Discrimination is especially obvious for Osh where ethnic Uzbeks make up half of the population, Pillay said.
She met with representatives of the Uzbek community in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh on Tuesday, who told her that they "suffered twice: both during and after the acts of violence [of the June 2010 ethnic conflict]."
The Kyrgyz authorities must provide ethnic Uzbeks with access to fair trial over accusations of inciting violence in Osh, and ensure the impartiality of legal processes, the UN high commissioner said.
The skewed ethnic representation in the south is present in the key local and central authorities, police and the army, she said.
It became most evident during the June 2010 events when around 75% of all dead victims were ethnic Uzbeks. Roughly the same percentage of those arrested and convicted belonged to this ethnic group, Pillay said.
There is no explanation as to why the same share of the dead and the accused belonged to one ethnic group, the high commissioner said.
I am concerned by the existence of the opposite points of view on the start of the 2010 conflict and the tendency to blame entirely one ethnic group, she said.
All those responsible for the crimes and human rights violations must be held to account, and legal proceedings and investigations must be fair. A lasting national reconciliation requires accountability and impartiality, the UN human rights commissioner said.