A study on violence against women and girls and its legal and policy regulation in Central Asia

Central Asian women and girls are often subjected to various forms of abuse. Although the region has adopted related international and specialized domestic legal and policy frameworks in the field of human rights, the prevention of violence against women and girls (VAWG) is not addressed sufficiently. This dissertation aims to broadly explore the problem of gender-based violence and questions of its legal and policy regulation in the Central Asian region, particularly in these four states: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. To achieve this goal, the study connects the theoretical framework, historical context, forms of gendered violence, and legal and policy landscape. First, it provides an overview of the theoretical roots of the issue to facilitate understanding of what VAWG is. Second, it examines gendered violence issues specific to Central Asia by focusing on several aspects. Specifically, the discourse introduces the historical background of Central Asian women's rights with its impact on the present VAWG context and investigates whether the barriers were created by Central Asian authoritarianism to gender equality and VAWG elimination. The study then identifies forms of gender-based violence that exist in the Central Asian region. These include such common VAWG instances as domestic violence, trafficking in women, femicide, and others, followed by specific forms of VAWG prescribed by traditional practices of peoples of Central Asia, such as bride kidnapping ("kyz ala kachuu"), "kelinism" and early marriages. Third, in a comparative analysis, the progress, challenges, and outlook of the four Central Asian countries in addressing the issue of VAWG are scrutinized from legal and policy perspectives. The analysis covers aspects such as the alignment of four Central Asian states with global standards on VAWG, with an emphasis on CEDAW (particularly CEDAW's VAWG-related Recommendations) and the Beijing Declaration. Finally, the dissertation examines the question of how Central Asian countries regulate gender-based violence through a detailed examination of their domestic laws and policies related to VAWG, along with advancement and challenges in their implementation. Aside from a review of relevant literature and normative analysis of VAWG laws and policies, the research is complemented by semi-structured, in-depth interviews with experts specializing in women's rights and gender issues in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, who provided subsidiary practical insights into the regulation of gender-based violence in the Central Asian region.