Women Face-to-Face with Domestic Abuse during COVID-19 Pandemic: Case of Kyrgyzstan

Domestic violence against women and girls is one of the most widespread consequences of human rights violations in the contemporary world. Females are often targeted to gender-based violence as one of the most vulnerable groups. Yet, nowadays, in the frame of the current Coronavirus pandemic in the world, the issue of domestic abuse takes on even brighter colors. The problem did not pass by the country of Kyrgyzstan as well. Although the relevant law has been adopted in the state, the issue of gender-based violence against women remains open. According to UN Women, only in regular days, every third female in Kyrgyzstan is beaten, sexually abused or otherwise ill-treated, given the region’s existing traditionalism and socio-cultural practice that is often falsely interpreted as a religious matter. Then what to say about the gender-based violence during a lockdown situation. Consequently, as the “stay at home” action began its move, the concern on a growing global trend in cases of domestic violence increased even more in Kyrgyz families. In particular, with the introduction of the state of emergency in several cities of Kyrgyzstan due to the Coronavirus outbreak, the number of reported cases of domestic violence increased by 62%. What is more, with the introduction of the state of emergency in several cities of Kyrgyzstan due to the Coronavirus outbreak, the problem warmed up the fact that the crisis centers across the country suspended the reception of people and switched to online work. The paper will cover the area of domestic violence against women and girls during the COVID-19 pandemic and its legal regulation in Kyrgyzstan under international and domestic law. The research will question: how Kyrgyzstan legally regulate the problem of domestic violence against women on the international and domestic levels, does the country effectively cope with an increased level of the concerned problem during COVID-19 lockdown, and to what extent?