Spravedlivost ("Justice")
Kyrgyzstan-based NGO Spravedlivost named winner of 2014 Max van der Stoel Award
Jalal-Abad regional human rights organisation Spravedlivost (Justice) was founded in 1994 in the Jalal-Abad region on the border of Kyrgyzstan with Uzbekistan, which has an ethnically-diverse Kyrgyz and Uzbek population. Along with other regions in south Kyrgyzstan, Jalal-Abad experienced violent ethnic clashes between these groups in 2010. Spravedlivost works to uphold the rule of law and ethnic equality, providing legal assistance to the local population, including minority groups, investigating allegations of torture and monitoring detention facilities. Since January 2016, lawyers of Spravedlivost have been providing legal consultations to the local population of Jalal-Abad within the framework of the United Nations-sponsored project “Promotion of access to justice by providing legal aid to vulnerable groups of the population”. Human rights defender Ms Valentina Gritsenko is currently the Director of the organisation.
Human rights defenders in Kyrgyzstan continue to be subjected to harassment, and face restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly and association. Family members of human rights defenders also face threats, harassment and persecution. The authorities systematically fail to investigate these incidents and to bring those responsible to justice. In several cases, perpetrators operate with the complicity of law enforcement agents.
