Threat level for minorities in Europe and Central Asia has increased the most in Kyrgyzstan – new global survey

12 May 2011

Kyrgyzstan is this year’s major riser from Europe and Central Asia in the global ‘Peoples under Threat’ rankings, says Minority Rights Group International (MRG) today in Warsaw, Poland. In its internationally recognised annual analysis, the London-based human rights organisation identifies situations where communities are most at risk of mass killing or systematic violent repression. Other countries with significantly high positions in the region are the Russian Federation, Georgia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“Political instability in Europe and Central Asia is still marked by the legacy of the conflicts that were sparked by the fall of the former Eastern Bloc,” says Carl Soderbergh, Director of Policy and Communications. “Ethnicity has proved a powerful mobilising factor again in Kyrgyzstan.”

Kyrgyzstan has shot up 19 places in the table after the ousting of President Bakiyev escalated into violent rioting last year in which ethnic minorities were targeted. The risk of conflict for minorities in the Russian Federation and Georgia shows no significant change, Russia shifted slightly to number 19 from 16 while Georgia has been steady at number 27, following  previous clashes in South Ossetia.

“Governments need to strengthen the mechanisms for minority rights protection in Central Asia,” says Soderbergh. “Representatives of national minorities need to participate in the running of the state and be included in all state institutions.”

Kyrgyz-Uzbek inter-ethnic violence in 2010 in the southern cities of Osh and Jalalabad, home to the ethnic Uzbek minority, shows that minorities have the most to fear from political instability. This conflict resulted in mass killings and the displacement of tens of thousands, reminiscent of the inter-ethnic conflict in 1990.

“Ethnic Uzbeks were attacked in a systematic manner by mobs in June 2010. They were killed or trapped in their houses, unable to access food and supplies. Thousands of people were crossing the borders of Uzbekistan, seeking shelter,” said Dildora Khamidova, Centre for Multicultural and Multilingual Education.

In the Western Balkans, Bosnia and Herzegovina remains in position 28 in the table.  Despite the European Court of Human Rights ruling that the country’s election process is discriminatory, the country held elections last October without abolishing restrictions against, among others, the Jewish and Roma communities. Worsening political deadlock blocked the expansion of minority participation in political processes.

“A year ago Bosnia’s senior politicians agreed that despite the country’s political problems, a return to inter-ethnic violence was impossible; now, some are not sure,” added Soderbergh.

Kosovo, for the first time included as a separate entity on the list, has entered the table at number 50. Smaller minorities still face exclusion and forced assimilation in the country. Serbs living outside the Serbian enclave fear a repeat of the anti-Serb violence of March 2004, when over 4 000 people were displaced.

Afghanistan is the most significant riser in the table, displacing Iraq from number 3. Civilian deaths added up to nearly 3 000 in 2010 and any further escalation of conflict or major re-alignment of power in Kabul carries the risk of large-scale bloodshed in the country. Preceding Afghanistan, the 1st and 2nd places in the table are taken by Somalia and Sudan.

Notes to the Editor

Peoples under Threat 2011 will be launched at a press conference in Warsaw, Poland on 12 May 2011.

• Time: 12 May 2011, 11:30 a.m.
• Venue: Centrum Kultury Nowy Wspaniay wiat, ul. Nowy wiat 63, 00-042 Warszawa

Speakers:

• Carl Soderbergh, MRG’s Director of Policy and Communications
• Dildora Khamidova, Centre for Multicultural and Multilingual Education, Osh, Kyrgyzstan

• The Peoples under Threat survey seeks to identify those peoples or groups that are most under threat of genocide, mass killing or other systematic violent repression in 2011. The survey with a description of how it is compiled can be found here.
• This is the sixth year MRG has compiled the ranking. Previous rankings can be found here.
• Minority Rights Group International (MRG) is a non-governmental organisation working to secure the rights of ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples worldwide.

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