Photo (c) RIA Novosti. Sergei Venyavsky.
A bit of interesting news – The Russian Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) is getting medieval on corrupt officials. The party just submitted a draft law in the Russian parliament that would brand public officials with a K (the first letter in a Russian word for corruption) on their hand for giving or receiving bribes. In addition to this, the proposal calls for banning public officials convicted of corruption from holding positions susceptible to bribery. The idea is that branding people for corruption would create a social disincentive to engage in bribery.
Do you think this would work?
The proposal got me thinking, however – what other unconventional anti-corruption efforts have been proposed or implemented? For instance…
India: A...
(Osh) - A planned independent international commission of inquiry into the recent violence in southern Kyrgyzstan should investigate all aspects of the violence, including the role of government forces, Human Rights Watch said today.
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(New York) - The Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) should deploy a police mission in southern Kyrgyzstan that is large enough to reach all areas affected by the recent violence, Human Rights Watch said today.
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(New York) - Newly uncovered evidence of vicious attacks during the massive violence in Kyrgyzstan on June 10 to 14, 2010, underscores the need for an international inquiry into the mayhem, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch said the international inquiry should supplement the Kyrgyz government's investigation.
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(New York) - Kyrgyz authorities should ensure that a detained human rights activist is allowed to exercise his full due process rights and should take immediate measures for his safety, Human Rights Watch said today. A lawyer who visited 60-year-old Azimzhan Askarov on June 22, 2010, said he bore marks of ill-treatment.
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(Osh) - Kyrgyz troops wounded at least 20 people, 2 of whom died, early June 21 during a security operation in the predominantly Uzbek village of Nariman in southern Kyrgyzstan, Human Rights Watch reported. The operation followed the removal of barricades erected by the residents to protect the village.
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(Geneva) - The United Nations Human Rights Council took positive steps to respond to human rights emergencies in Kyrgyzstan and Somalia in its session that ended on June 18, 2010, Human Rights Watch said today.
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Kyrgyzstan
(Osh) - Kyrgyz troops wounded at least 20 people, two of whom died, during a security operation on June 21, 2010, in the predominantly Uzbek village of Nariman in southern Kyrgyzstan, Human Rights Watch said today. The operation followed the removal of barricades erected by the residents to protect the village.
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(Osh) - Residents of Kyrgyzstan's southern city of Osh are being brutally attacked, beaten, and raped, despite government claims that the situation has stabilized, Human Rights Watch said today. The reports come from Human Rights Watch researchers, who visited several neighborhoods in Osh on June 16 and June 17, interviewing witnesses and documenting human rights violations.
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(Osh) – The United Nations Security Council should urgently take measures to help the Kyrgyz government stop the spiraling violence in Osh and ensure people are protected, Human Rights Watch said today.
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(Osh) - The government of Kyrgyzstan should take immediate measures to ensure safety for people attempting to flee unchecked violence in southern Kyrgyzstan, Human Rights Watch said today.
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Kyrgyzstan’s self-named Interim Government of People’s Trust set the dates for the Constitutional Referendum and the Election only 2 weeks after taking power. The Interim Government’s Chairman Omurbek Tekebaev, who is also Chairman of the political party “Atameken,” and a likely presidential contender, scheduled the referendum on the new Constitution for June 27, 2010 and presidential elections for October 10, 2010. This gives the Interim Government six months to do a lot of important work to lay the groundwork for a democratic government. Few countries get their second chance to try again so soon after failing the previous time. Kyrgyzstan has this window of opportunity.
The Interim Government has committed to undertaking substantial constitutional reforms and economic...
(New York) - Kyrgyzstan's interim government should immediately initiate a thorough and impartial investigation into the violence in the country on April 6 through 8, 2010, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should request international support for the investigation, Human Rights Watch said.
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A big international news story during this past week has been the political turmoil in Kyrgyzstan. The impoverished country of 5 million people serves as a military base for the US Afghan war. Along with the take over by the opposition of government strongholds came rioting in the streets. In reaction to government takeover, people looted shops and businesses and tried to seize private property. For a background on the rioting and the poverty that is prevalent in the country, we turn to this analysis from the BBC. Shapina Teleushova's voice trembles in fear as she recalls the night of the protests."It was quiet and then suddenly I heard a crowd yelling in the street," the bed and breakfast hotel employee said."Suddenly about 200 people stormed the building, they were equipped with sticks...
Proceedings against opposition leaders
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(New York) - Those exercising control in Kyrgyzstan should remember their responsibility to respect human rights as they restore order after two days of violent unrest in the country, Human Rights Watch said today. The violent protests unfolded after several months of rising tension between the political opposition and the government and increased government repression.
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(New York) - The government of Kyrgyzstan should allow peaceful opposition demonstrations planned for April 7, 2010, to take place, and to refrain from using excessive force to break up gatherings, Human Rights Watch said today. The opposition had called for kurultais, or political gatherings, to be held nationwide on that date.
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(New York) - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon should promote respect for and better implementation of human rights obligations during his visit to Central Asia, Human Rights Watch said today.
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Mr. Ban Ki-moon
Secretary-General
United Nations
Re: Your Upcoming Trip to Central Asia
Dear Secretary-General,
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Mr. Ban Ki-moon
Secretary-General
United Nations
Re: Your Upcoming Trip to Central Asia
Dear Secretary-General,
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(New York) - Tajik authorities should not forcibly return a Kyrgyz human rights defender who is also a registered asylum seeker to Kyrgyzstan, Human Rights Watch said today. They should immediately grant the man, who is in custody, access to a lawyer and investigate allegations that his detention in Tajikistan was arbitrary and that he has been tortured.
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Since 2008, President Bakiev has embarked on a privatization mission. Lessons from around the world and most recently other former Soviet countries, including Russia, Kazakhstan, and others, clearly illustrate that privatization is not an end to itself. Rather the process of privatization is the key to successful transition from a centralized to a market economy. With this goal in mind, Kyrgyz civil society, with the business community at its helm, continues to sound alarms over speedy privatization that ensues in Kyrgyzstan with little transparency and much public skepticism. Opaqueness in the privatization process, combined with drastic increases in utility costs, undermines the public’s trust in the government and leads to a potential further consolidation of economic power in...
(New York, December 3, 2009) - The Kyrgyz government should immediately stop harassing human rights monitors doing research in southern Kyrgyzstan, Human Rights Watch said today. On December 2 Kyrgyz authorities denied entry to prominent Tajik human rights defender Nigina Bakhrieva - the third foreign advocate working on southern Kyrgyzstan to be denied entry or deported in 2009.
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(New York) - The Kyrgyz authorities should immediately release the human rights activists Bakhrom Hamroev and Izzatilla Rakhmatillaev and allow them to continue their fact-finding work without further interference, Human Rights Watch said today.
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(New York) - A review hearing related to last year's protests in southern Kyrgyzstan is a crucial opportunity for the Kyrgyz authorities to investigate the defendants' torture allegations and to ensure justice, Human Rights Watch said today.
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Call me an idealist, but I am positively inspired by the stories I’ve heard over the past several months from my colleagues here at CIPE. I’ve had the great pleasure of talking with, well, just about everyone at CIPE about the accomplishments of our partners over the past year as we’ve put together CIPE’s 2008 annual report. I remember my colleagues saying things like…
“I think we should talk about how people in Ghana have had this unprecedented opportunity to participate in the political process through the presidential and parliamentary debates ahead of the December 2008 elections. Many communities, for the first time, organized debates for their parliamentary representatives. Because of the debates, people found out what their representatives’ views actually were. In...
(Bishkek) - The Kyrgyz government should reverse its decision to bar a Russian human rights defender from visiting Kyrgyzstan, Human Rights Watch said today.
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