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Kyrgyzstan Parliamentarian in Brawl with Security Guard

In Bishkek, Chyngyz Azhibayev, a deputy of the Kyrgyz Republic's Jogorku Kenesh (Parliament), almost ran over an employee of the Asia Mall shopping and entertainment center, after which he got into a fight with him, 24.kg has reported. The incident occurred on June 21, but has only just been acknowledged. According to a source in law enforcement agencies, at about 3PM, whilst driving his car out of the shopping mall's parking lot, Azhibayev narrowly avoided hitting a security guard. The deputy then reacted aggressively to the security guard's remarks, exited his vehicle, and proceeded to start a fight with him. The pair were separated by bystanders, but the deputy then called the police and filed a complaint against the guard. The press service of the Leninsky district police department said that the call came in at 15:50. Law enforcement officers who arrived on the scene took Azhibayev's statement, which he later withdrew, meaning the case was terminated.

Drop in Uzbekistan’s Gold Sales

In April, Uzbekistan's sales of gold dropped significantly, according to data published by the World Gold Council (WGC). In the same month, the total gold reserves held by the world’s central banks increased by 33 tons and volumes of purchases and sales amounted 36 tons and 3 tons respectively. The most active buyers of precious metals during the reporting period were the Central Banks of Turkey (8 tons), Kazakhstan (6 tons), and India (6 tons). Meanwhile, the Central Bank of China greatly reduced its gold purchases , while increasing its reserves by 2 tons to 2,264 tons; the lowest figure since November 2022. A significant decrease in precious metal sales occurred at the expense of Uzbekistan and Jordan, whose reserves decreased by only 1 ton. In May, the world central banks' reserves increased by 10 tons, the volume of purchases was 23 tons, and that of sales, totalled 12 tons. During that month, Kazakhstan took the lead in sales of 10 tons of gold. A previous report, posted by the TCA, provided data for Uzbekistan’s gold exports in February and March.

UNDP Launches Course on Gender Issues in Turkmenistan

Turkmenportal has reported that the United Nations Development Programme is launching a specialized online course on gender issues for Turkmenistan's civil servants. The course will cover topics such as basic gender definitions, international standards, gender in public policy, gender analysis tools, local gender stereotypes, strategies for achieving gender equality, national frameworks, the prevention of gender-based violence, and engaging men in efforts to promote gender equality. Training will be offered in English, Russian, and Turkmen, and will include texts, quizzes, presentations, and other content to aimed at providing the necessary knowledge and skills to promote gender equality in the workplace. The course is expected to provide civil servants with a comprehensive understanding of gender equality concepts and international standards, enhance their ability to integrate gender aspects into public policy, and enable them to actively promote gender-responsible governance. As Tomica Paovic, the UNDP Resident Representative in Turkmenistan, noted, mainstreaming gender issues and awareness into civil servants' work is crucial to promoting equality, enhancing policy effectiveness, and ensuring sustainable development. "We are confident that this important initiative, supported by the UNDP's partner, the Government of Canada, will strengthen the country's capacity for gender equality and women's empowerment, in line with the National Action Plans on Human Rights and Gender Equality in Turkmenistan," Paovic stated.

Universities of Kazakhstan and China to Cooperate on Microsatellite Launch

Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and the Northwest Polytechnic University of China have agreed to conduct joint scientific research using microsatellites. According to the press service of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the agreement was reached during talks between the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, and Xi Jinping, during the latter's official visit to Kazakhstan. The initiative, the first of its kind to be implemented by Kazakh universities, opens up new opportunities for space research, training qualified specialists, and developing joint satellites, as well as enabling remote sensing studies of the Earth via a microsatellite. Integral to the project, is an aim to develop equipment for gravimetric measurements, including a specialized ground station and a transmitter on the satellite, designed to detect density inhomogeneities in the Earth's crust and mantle. The employment of such, will help solve fundamental problems in the study of geodynamic processes at great depths. The North-West Polytechnic University of China is a leader in launching objects into space whilst Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, the only Kazakh university with experience in launching nanosatellites into orbit , has already launched its own Al-Farabi-1 and Al-Farabi-2 nanosatellites.

Security

Taking the Necessary Steps to Curb Child Abuse in Kazakhstan

In Almaty, a young woman threw herself off a Ferris wheel, falling to her death. Before committing suicide, she had strangled her five-year-old daughter. The number of children in Kazakhstan has soared over the past decade, but so have the number of crimes committed against minors. When Mom and Dad are the murderers In 2023, twenty-five children were murdered in Kazakhstan, seven of them by their relatives according to the country’s children's ombudsman, Dinara Zakiyeva. This year, Kazakhstanis were shocked by numerous horrifying cases of child abuse. According to relatives and neighbors, the family of the woman who strangled her daughter lived in the Ile District of Almaty Region and were financially secure and successful. The regional commissioner for children's rights, Aigul Yesimbekova, explained that the woman had confesses her crime to her sister before committing suicide. “The child had Down's syndrome. The mother was most likely in an internal crisis and despair when she decided to do this,"Yesimbekova explained. "She went to her sister and told her that she was going to kill herself. When her sister tried to calm her down, she went to the park (the Central Park of Culture and Leisure in Almaty). Her husband is an IT specialist, and the financial component [of her life] was fine. She was not registered with psychiatrists, her husband makes money, and everything seemed fine, but the child was sick. Probably, her soul was in such a state of crisis; it is hard when a child is sick. Maybe she murdered the child in a rush of emotion, and then, unable to cope with the guilt, she took the step she did.” According to Zakiyeva, such families are in critical need of psychological support, and child protective services should supervise them. However, the situation with psychologists and child social workers in Kazakhstan is poor. At the end of June, a court in the Turkestan Region convicted a mother of killing her two children. Their bodies were found in a rented apartment in February 2024 in the city of Turkistan. The mother was sentenced to 15 years in prison. After killing her children, the woman called her friend and told her what she'd done. Even against the backdrop of Kazakhstan’s high birth rates, the Turkestan Region - as is the entire south of the country - is an outlier. The percentage of people under the age of 18 in Kazakhstan stands at 34.1%, whereas in the Turkestan Region, this figure is 43.3%, followed by the Mangystau Region at 41.9%, and the federal city of Shymkent at 40.6%. Experts say that it is in the regions with the highest birth rates that the highest rates of violence against children are recorded. In September of last year, a pedophile raped and brutally murdered a five-year-old girl who lived next to him in the village of Zhibek Zholy in the Turkestan Region. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and chemical castration. News of the murder almost sparked a riot and deadly reprisals against the rapist;...

Human Rights

Kyrgyz Supreme Court Upholds Sentence of Activist Zarina Torokulova

Considering the appeal of convicted activist Zarina Torokulova, the Supreme Court of Kyrgyzstan upheld the sentence passed down on her by lower courts, lawyer Akmat Alagushev has reported. According to Alagushev, the charges against the defendant were not proven at the investigation or in court; despite this, the court found her guilty. On January 16, the Pervomaisky District Court of Bishkek found the activist guilty of violating Part 3 of Article 278 of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic, which addresses "Calls for active disobedience to the lawful demands of authorities, mass disorder, and incitement to violence against citizens." Earlier, the prosecution noted that the activist shared two messages from the Facebook account "Umai Aruu." One was "Japarov Mafia," and the other was "Organizing an online rally," a repost of a video by journalist, Olzhobai Shakir, who opposed the transfer of four boarding houses on Issyk-Kul to Uzbekistan, and urged citizens to come out for a rally. He was detained on August 23, 2023, by officers of the State Committee for National Security, accused of calling for active disobedience to law enforcement officials, mass disorder, and attempted seizure of power. Torokulova was sentenced to five years' imprisonment with three years' probationary supervision.