“The International community should not remain without action in the face of another catastrophe in Kyrgyzstan”, declared Souhayr Belhassen, President of FIDH. “People facing massive murders and rapes should be protected from further ethnic minded crimes, they should be provided with food and medical aid, and all necessary international assistance should be granted to the Kyrgyz authorities”.
The Kyrgyz ministry of Health announced on June 15 that 178 people have died and 1866 were injured, but according to civil society organisations on the ground, the death toll has already reached the thousands and at least 2000 people were injured during the violence targeting ethnic Uzbeks, others estimate that the losses are much higher. Entire districts were set on fire. Thousands of civilians are urgently in need of protection, humanitarian aid, food, medicine and shelter, including people fleeing the violence and gathering at the border with Uzbekistan. According to UNHCR, 275 000 people were displaced including 75 000 who already entered the territory before Uzbekistan closed its borders to the refugees on June 14, 2010.
According to information received on the ground by FIDH’s partner organisations, a large scale armed conflict is going on. The security forces sent by the interim government are not in control of the situation.
On June 10, after weeks of brewing tension, clashes and violence broke out between ethnic Uzbek and Kyrgyz youth groups in Osh, the second biggest city in Kyrgyzstan. The escalation of violence has involved shootings, looting, rapes, and the burning of the homes of ethnic Uzbeks, which are allegedly further encouraged by a group of agitators. According to the reports received, corpses lie in the streets, gaz, electricity and water have been shut down in some districts. The Kyrgyz interim government declared a state of emergency on June 11 and announced that it was in need of external help in order to control the situation. On June 12 violence spread to the neighboring city of Djalalabad and to Nooken, Bazarkorgon and Suzak on June 13. The situation has deteriorated in the Uzbek ethnic areas of Cheremushki, Majnuntol, Furkat and Onadir. On June 15, the leader of the interim government Roza Otunbaeva announced that there was no need to send peacekeeping forces and that everything would be done in order to maintain the referendum on the Constitution, planned for June 27.
FIDH and its partner organisations Citizens against Corruption, Adilet and Kylym Shamy call on:
The international community:
* To provide all necessary humanitarian and medical assistance which is sorely missing in the affected region;
* To provide all necessary support to the Kyrgyz interim government in order to put an end to violence and take measures directed at the prevention of further escalations;
The UN Security Council
* To prevent a further degradation of the situation and ensure the protection of civilians, in application of Chapter 7 of the Charter of the United Nations, in line with the Responsibility to Protect, and in application of Resolution 1325 on Women and peace ;
* To urgently refer the matter to the International Criminal Court in order to provide the legal background for a preliminary investigation;
The Kyrgyz authorities:
* To take all possible and effective measures to protect the population and to prevent the escalation of the conflict, in strict conformity with international law;
* In case the using of force is required, to ensure that it is proportional and in strict conformity with UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and the Geneva Conventions;
* To organise immediate access to humanitarian and medical aid;
* To accept the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court;
The former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev :
* To officially and solemnly call on his supporters to not take part in any violent action or protest and to resort only to legal and pacific methods of protest;
The Uzbek authorities:
* To keep its borders open, protect refugees entering its territory, cooperate with the ICRC and guarantee access to the organisations providing humanitarian aid to the refugees, in particular the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Press Contact : Karine Appy/Fabien Maitre + 33 1 43 55 14 12 / + 33 1 43 55 90 19