Anis H. Bajrektarevic is a Professor and a Chairperson for International Law and Global

MODERNDIPLOMACY.EU

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Kyrgyzstan, mirroring the action of its former
conquering Russia, is attempting to pass an
anti-gay propaganda bill similar to the bill that
Russia passed in 2013. The Kyrgyz anti-gay law
includes harsher penalties such as one year of
imprisonment for violating its provisions. Due
to the structure of Kyrgyzstan’s legislature, the
bill requires three readings and subsequently
three passing votes. The bill has gone through
to readings and two favorable votes: 15 Octo-
ber 2014 and 24 June 2015. Each of the read-
ings passed with landslides with the June
reading receiving 90 votes in favor and two
against.
Passing of the draft law would no longer allow
Kyrgyzstan to fulfill its international obligations
to equality and political rights. Kyrgyzstan is
party of to the UN Office of the High Commis-
sioner for Human Rights International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Equality for
all is also enshrined in the Kyrgyz Constitution;
this law would violate the constitution of the
Kyrgyz Republic. The law would put restrictions
on media and peaceful assembly violating Arti-
cle 31 of the Constitution: “the right to free ex-
pression of opinion, freedom of speech and
press.” The Kyrgyz Constitutions also declares
that “the propagation of national, ethnic, racial
and religious hatred, gender as well as other so-
cial supremacy which calls to discrimination,
hostility and violence shall be prohibited” under
Section 4 of Article 2. Kyrgyzstan’s anti-gay bill
demonstrates Russia’s increasing influence in its
political affairs and now the country’s moral af-
fairs. The discriminatory draft law has received
international condemnation from the United
Nations, global human rights groups, Western
countries and domestic activists. 
Homophobia in Kyrgyzstan is systemic and
many gay Kyrgyz men are often abused
(beaten, threatened and arbitrarily detained) by
police and in police custody.
fOREIgN POLICY
Kyrgyzstan was the former home of U.S. Air Base
Manas Transit Center, near Bishkek International
Airport. President Rosa Otunbayeva announced
that the contract for the base will be extended,
but due to political tension over the U.S. pres-
ence at Manas, the base was closed in July 2014
to coincide with the U.S. withdrawal of U.S.
forces from Afghanistan. The base was to sup-
port NATO logistics and served as an alternative
logistical hub after the 2005 closure of the
Karshi-Khanabad Air Base (or K2 Airbase) in
Uzbekistan (see Uzbekistan Foreign Policy). Ad-
ditionally, a Russian air base, Kant Air Base, is a
leftover military installation from Soviet times.
China is also becoming increasingly important,