• How to Measure Violence: The Secretary General’s Campaign
• 52nd Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women
• 50th U.N. Commission on the Status of Women
• Fifty years of working for women
• Bishkek Conference
• 48th U.N. Commission on the Status of Women

How to Measure Violence: The Secretary General’s Campaign

By Lucina Kathmann

On February 25, at the opening of the 52nd Session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced the start of a worldwide United Nations campaign against violence against women. For two weeks, panels and presentations explored the strategy of the campaign.
The campaign is a shared activity of the United Nations Statistical Division and its Division for the Advancement of Women. It is an effort to generate quantitative indicators to measure violence against women worldwide. We know that there is violence against women in every country. The Secretary General estimates that one woman in three worldwide is a victim. However in most places there is little reliable statistical information about how much violence there is. Even where there is statistical information, it has not been collected in such a way that comparisons can be made with the statistics of other countries. Good information about the frequency and gravity of violence against women is useful in advocating for legislation, soliciting programs for victims and many other measures. Looking ahead, such information will be essential if one day a government or even the United Nations can claim that violence against women has been reduced.

The questionnaire
Accordingly, a four-point questionnaire has been generated, a simple tool for gathering information. This questionnaire is appropriate to administer either by phone (where good telephone service is available) or in person. Both have been tried. The substance of the questions is as follows.

1. Has anyone used violence against you (hit you, choked you, twisted your arm, pulled your hair or done some other physical thing to you that has made you afraid) in the last year? How severe were the damages? How often did it happen?
2. Has anyone forced you to have sexual relations, either with that person or with someone else, in the last year? How often?
3. Was this person your intimate partner? If so, how many times did this take place in the last year?
4. Were you married before age 18? Have you experienced female genital mutilation?

(Question 4 is only to be administered in areas in which there is enough of these practices to have statistical relevance)

Is violence against women a crime or even bad?
Women vary in whether they consider violence against themselves to be a crime or even a bad thing. For this reason the interviewers are cautioned to focus on the facts, no matter what value is given to them. A recent UN study of a small group also asked:

How are these incidents best described: as a crime, as something wrong but not a crime, or as just something that happens?

Particularly in the case where the perpetrator was the woman’s intimate partner, and particularly in areas where there was a great deal of violence against women, the woman answered that it was “just something that happens”. However, she did answer the questions to the best of her ability.

This questionnaire has already been administered to women in 11 countries. In every case, the sample was more than 900 women. In the case of Italy, 25,000 women answered. Most of these countries are fairly developed (Hong Kong, Australia, Poland, Denmark, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Greece, Italy), but the questionnaire was also administered in Costa Rica, Mozambique, and the Philippines. In about a quarter of the cases in which the woman was asked, she said that she had never told anybody about it; talking with the interviewer was the first time she had revealed it to anybody.

Limitations
The four-point questionnaire has its limits. For example, the device of a questionnaire inherently cannot yield statistics about murder, which is a significant type of violence against women. A study commissioned by the Italian government found that a woman was murdered on the average every two days in Italy. There are other sorts of violence too (female infanticide, for example) which will not show up as a result of this questionnaire.

The future
The campaign will continue until 2015, the time frame of the UN’s Millennium Goals for Development. It has been left in care of a special group of the Statistical Division called Friends of the Chair, to be led by the delegation from Mexico. Efforts are underway to find funding to administer the questionnaire worldwide.
Many others beside the Secretary General have contributed to the campaign getting a good start. UNIFEM cooperated by launching a signature campaign, “Say no to violence,” spearheaded by the actress and goodwill ambassador Nicole Kidman. Originally the goal of this campaign was to gather 100,000 signatures to obtain a grant of $100,000 offered with this stipulation. However, in very few days UNIFEM announced that it already had gathered over 200,000 signatures. It seems that, for major action to combat violence against women, the time has come.

A Report on the 52nd Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), Feb. 25th to March 7th, 2008

by Tsung Su

The priority theme of the 52nd Session of CSW is the “Financing for Gender Equality.” The issue of Gender Equality is one of the 12 critical areas of concerns of women’s rights outlined in the Platform For Action (PFA) at the fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, 1995.  One of the critical areas that has made perennial presence at CSW sessions after 1995 is the subject of Violence against Women
(VAW). This year, VAW drew special attention.  At the opening day ceremony , UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon ‘s dramatic whistle-blowing underscores the importance of paying attention to VAW as a permeating violence against women’s human rights..
(See Lucina’s earlier report on this). UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman’s “Say No toViolence against Women”campaign also generated wide publicity .

I. Violence against Women (VAW)

First, some statistics:  according to the 2006 Secretary-General report, one out of every three women worldwide has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime.  For women aged 15 to 44 years of age, violence is a major cause of death and disability.  VAW is a pervasive cross-country and cross-culture crime. In a 2005 study by the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 50percent of women in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Peru and Tenzania reported having been subjected to physical or sexual violence by intimate partners.  In developed countries, the figures stand at 30percent in the United Kingdom, 22 percent in the United States, 20 percent in Japan. To combat this pandemic malady, UNIFEM (Women’s Fund at the UN) has a set up a special Trust Fund.  From 1997 to 2006, the Fund has supported 226 projects worldwide in the following areas: legal and policy framework, institutional accountability, advocacy and awareness, community mobilization and support, cross-sector alliances and coalitions, social support services and data and research. 

Training workshops for judges were conducted in countries in Southern Africa and South and Central America and in East Africa, South Africa, Zambia and Botswana. In Rosario, Argentina and Lima, Peru, woman NGOs used grants from the Trust Fund to help make cities safer for women. In Rosario, anti-violence messages were printed on transportation card (“Violence against women is a grave violation of human rights.”)  Measures to curtail violence were incorporated into city planning.  In Lima, similar safety measures were also adopted, such as better street lighting, fenced off empty lots, etc. In Sao Paulo, Brazil, Bogota, Colombia and Mexico City, gender sensitive measures in law enforcement and public transportation were also implemented.

In the matter of cross-country trafficking of women, the Russian NGO Syostri works closely with NGO partners in Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan to combat this modern-day slave trade which flourished after the collapse of the former Soviet Union. In Cambodia and Nepal, radio broadcasts by local NGOs funded by the UN Trust Fund reached large women audiences. Talkshows on topics of domestic violence, rape, sexual exploitation and trafficking helped raise awareness and change public attitude. Through the Regional Network of Men Against Gender-based violence, Femnet (of the Trust Fund)  has helped men in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Somaliland and Zambia to get involved to change negative male stereotypes. The 2003 men’s Traveling Conference across four-countries raised public awareness of violence against women. 

UNIFEM also sponsored “Strategic Communications workshops” to train local NGOs and law enforcement personnel to help end VAW.  Now a story to illustrate the fact that concerted effort by determined NGOs can achieve justice against all obstacles. In 1996, in Kaolack, Senegal, a nine-year old girl was savagely raped by a 66 year-old man, a prominent local religious leader with 4 wives and 22 children.  Though the rapist admitted his guilt, but his political connection made the mayor to intervene on his behalf. The girl’s family was threatened to drop the charge. The well-established NGO the Association for the Advancement of Senegalese women (APROFES) took up the girl’s case.  Using multi-media strategy---leaflets, petitions, open forum dramatization and discussions, APROFE’s effort impacted public opinion and the judiciary.  The religious leader/rapist was tried, convicted and sentenced to a ten-year jail term. 
 
VAW is a persistent and pervasive malady affecting women worldwide.  To combat it, it takes persistent and pervasive efforts . To prevent domestic violence,  Amnesty International has initiated a comprehensive 14-point programme for the government  to follow.  To list just the first 4 points of the programme :To condemn domestic violence, to raise public awareness, to use education system to challenge prejudice,  to abolish legislation that discriminates against women,  etc. If only the private sectors and state actors have the will power to implement the programme!!

II. Gender Equality

The issue of Gender Equality is highlighted as the theme of the 2008 CSW Session. Women’s rights to equality in education, employment, in political representation, in sharing of services and resources are essential to the development of women’s full potentials. A 2006 report by the Kenya Caucus for Women’s Leadership entitled Äwakening the Sleeping Giant, speaks volumes about women’s potential energy as leaders and achievers.   It has been proven that economic development without the full participation of women is not sustainable. Gender equality as a social dynamic should not concern women only, but society as a whole.  As the target year (2015) of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs which I reported on in previous years) approaches, member states of the UN have agreed to set development priorities in terms of allocating resources to achieve better effectiveness.  The 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness outlines 5 guiding principles for greater effectiveness  as following: Ownership which commits development countries to take leadership in implementing nationally defined development strategies; Alignment, which commits donors to support national development strategies;  Harmonization, which commits donors to harmonize aid priorities; Managing for results,  which commits donors and partner countries to focus on results;  Mutual accountability, which commits national governments and development partners to measure aid performance through systems, procedure and capacities.

Several countries have followed guidelines of global agreements, such as The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA), to initiate national priorities in gender equality. 

Here I will report briefly on some panel presentations of NGO experience in promoting Gender Equality.  Iceland: with the first democratically elected woman president in the world (1980-1996), Iceland is woman-friendly in its legislature and social welfare system to promote “gender mainstreaming in all spheres of society.” In addition to the International Women’s Day, Iceland has its own Women’s Day Off. October 24th  is the day when women take off to rally in downtown Reykjavik to underscore the importance of women’s contribution in both paid and unpaid work. In dealing with domestic violence, the Icelanders assume a positive attitude.  Members of a NGO named Stigamot drive around in a gaily painted bus with the words Empowerment, Joy, Laughter, Fun , Happiness painted on the sides of the bus. When women in need don’t come in for help, Stigamot goes to them to offer counseling. Stigamot’s positive philosophy chooses to transform victims to ardent affirmers of joy and life. 

Panels on empowering women in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan gave illuminating perspectives on how to “awakening the sleeping giant “in the average woman.  In Hong Kong, women enrolled in adult-education classes conducted by NGOs and government agencies, learned reading, writing, sewing, decorating and awareness-raising.  As a result, their self-confidence and self-esteem are raised immeasurably. In Japan’s small villages, rural women and farm wives were taught about food safety laws and how to market farm products at town hall meetings.  In Taiwan, the NGO the Eden Foundation has been actively engaged in promoting the welfare of foreign-born wives. This is a large group of marginalized women from mainland China and Southeast Asia who married Taiwanese men. They are subjected to sub-class status due to lack of official papers and discriminatory attitudes on the part of the local people. They gained knowledge of and skill in child-rearing, financial management, stress-coping, socialization and vocational training in classes given by the Foundation. While another NGO the Garden of Hope Foundation has made significant contributions in promoting the welfare of abused and sexually exploited women and children.  They also played a pivotal role in the passage of several anti-gender-based violence legislatures.

In Nepal, where a decade-long civil strife ravaged this country into deeper poverty, the courageous Nepali women struggle to be heard in post-conflict era when in 2006 a truce was negotiated between the government and the insurgents. When the peace treaty was drafted without gender representation, the women took to the street to protest.

According to the 2000 Security Council Resolution 1325 (SCR 1325 which I covered copiously in my 2007 report), a legally binding international law, gender perspectives are essential elements in the negotiation, maintenance and peace-building in post-conflict period.  After protest, the Nepali women won the right to be heard.  But on the other hand, a group of women in Nepal have been subjected to extreme discrimination for centuries, not only because of their gender, but also because of their CASTE.  Yes, this antiquated caste system is still alive and well in certain parts of the world at the dawn of the 21st century. There are 5.4 million Dalit people in Nepal who belong to the lowest social class—the so-called Untouchables. The Dalit children are deprived of primary school education, basic health care and access to clean drinking water.  The Dalit women are especially easy preys for social and domestic violence due to poverty and discrimination. 60percent of all trafficked women in Nepal are Dalits. During menstruation, the Dalit women are forced to segregate themselves in cow sheds where they are prone to be hurt, raped or snake-bitten. If my memory serves me right, I remember that anthropologist  Margaret Mead reported in the last century that this segregation was practiced among primitive tribal societies as patriarchal society considers the woman as “unclean”when nature makes its monthly call upon the her as a life-bearer. What an irony! 

But take heart, no need to despair. The Nepali NGO FEDO (Feminist Dalit Organization) has been working diligently since 1994 to bring the suffering of the Dalit women to the public arena.  It has been an uphill struggle. Thus it is not only important to “awakening the sleeping giant”, it is of necessity to awaken society’s sleeping conscience.

REPORT ON THE 50TH CONFERENCE OF THE COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN (CSW) OF THE UN.

by Tsung Su

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the CSW of the United Nations. The themes of this session comprise the following : l. Enhanced participation of women and development: an enabling environment for achieving gender equality and advancement of women, taking into account, inter alia, the field of education, health and work. 2. Equal participation of women and men in decision-making processes at all levels. The half-century milestone was remembered by some reflective assessments by both the UN and the NGOs.

Since the Beijing Platform For Action (BPFA) was initiated in 1995, each year CSW as well as the NGOs make assessments of the implementations of all the 12 critical areas outlined in the Platform. This year CSW published the Agreed Conclusions On The Critical Areas Of Concern Of The Beijing Platform For Action 1996-2005 as follows : Low participation of women in the decision-making processes; Lack of human and financial resources; Persistence of gender stereotypes that affect the desigh and implementation of policies and programmes in each critical area. Though challenges and obstacles abound in the task ahead, achievements, great and small , have also been made. I hereby report briefly on some of the areas of concern.

1. Women and Peace-making : In 2000, the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security reaffirmed the essential role women play in peace-building. It should be noted that civilians account for 70 percent of conflicts casualities, of which most are women and children. Wartime violence against women and girls such as rape and sexual slavery make them vulnerable to enforced pregnancies and sexual diseases including HIV/AIDS. UN Development Fund For Women (UNIFEM) has been instrumental in helping women worldwide in participation in peace process. In Sudan, after decade-long civil conflicts, in 1999 women played a key role in helping to settle inter-group hostilities in Southern Sudan. UNIFEM partnered with the Sudan Council of Churches to help women take part in regional peace-making. In 2005 Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed and it called for the " Equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all civil and political rights. " In Afghanistan UNIFEM contributed to the constitutional process by the training of women delegates, helped the Afgan Loya Jirga to ensure women's rights in the new constitution, and helped the development of the new Ministry of Women's Affairs, etc. In Congo and in Rwanda UNIFEM helped women to secure rights both in peace negotiations and in demobilization. In Sierra Leone UNIFEM with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission helped women's groups to address their grievances in post-conflict recovery. In other areas, such as Azerbajan, Armenia, Georgia UNIFEM helped women's groups to organize national women's peace network and the implementation of the Resolution 1325.

2. Human Trafficking : Transnational trafficking of women and young girls into prostitution and sexual slavery is one of the most insidious forms of violence against women (VAW). After drug-dealing, human trafficking is also the second largest criminal industry in the world and the fastest growing. Each year human rights activists and women's NGOs give presentations on trafficking. Among them the most active and effective ones are the Coalition Against Trafficking In Women (CATW) and the MiraMed Institute/Angel Coalition. According to CATW , Sexual trafficking generates revenue of 7 billion dollars annually for the traffickers, although the Interpol puts the estimate at a staggering 19 billion dollars. Among European countries Sweden is unique in its new laws addressing prostitution and trafficking as practices of violence and discrimination against women and girls. These new laws have lowered trafficking into Sweden, while its neighboring countries witnessed an increase. MiraMed Institute and the Angel Coalition confine their counter-trafficking work in Russia. The latter, set up in 1999 is a consortium of 55 NGOs in the post-Soviet Russia with the sole purpose to combat trafficking. According to the UN and the US State Department, there were more than 500,000 Russian women and girls trafficked to more than 50 countries the past decade. Destination countries including but not limited to the following : Belgium, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, the Nordic countries, Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Israel, Egypt, South Korea, Japan, China , USA , Canada and others. The Coalition has set up a trafficking victims assistance center in Moscow, a network of regional safe houses, and an international Russian language help-line. It also conducted training sessions of police, the media, community and elected leaders and other NGOs on trafficking. With the support of the Russian government, the Coalition and their supporters are indeed Angels dedicated to the noble work of human rescue. The much acclaimed TV drama entitled Trafficking shown in the US was based on documented stories provided by the Coalition.

3.Gender Equality and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) : The eight MDGs, adopted in the 2000 Millennium Summit, call on the UN member states to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger ; to achieve universal primary education; to promote gender equality and empower women; to reduce child mortality; to imporve maternal health; to combat HIV/AIDS, maleria and other diseases; to ensure environmental sustainability; and to develop a global partnership for development. The Millennium Project stresses that Gender Equality is central to achieving all of the goals. UNIFEM is presently engaged in a five country project in implementing the MDGs for the UN Development Programme (UNDP) , as learning models for other countries. In Cambodia, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco and Peru, all developing countries, some war-torn, UNIFEM/UNDP advocated measures to implement the MDGs and gender-sensitive policies. Though a general review of the Goals as work-in-progress at present, the target date of 2015 for the completion of the Goals seems a bit beyond reach.

The collective will and effort of the UN and the NGOs to manage the problems of the human conditions at times recall the Sisyphean task of pushing a rock uphill, yet the human spirit (especially that of determined women activists) always finds ways to entertain hope and optimism. The 50/50 Leadership NGO promotes women's equal leadership in all professions at all levels worldwide. Its annual progress reports always generate spirited discussions. During this half-century anniversary of the CSW, the NGOs also presented a signed petition to the UN for the consideration of a woman to be the next Secretary General in charge of these united nations. One can not help but say CHEERS to them all !

FIFTY YEARS OF WORKING FOR WOMEN

By Lucina Kathmann

The global women’s movement is strong and still gathering force, even without special enticements like the 1995 United Nations sponsored World Women’s Conference in Beijing.The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the United Nations’ body to monitor the condition of women around the world, met for the 50th time this year from February 27 through March 10 at the UN headquarters in New York.

The CSW is not a high-profile commission; meetings related to war automatically attract many more reporters. Yet most countries voluntarily send special representatives to the CSW instead of recycling their regular UN personnel, and Kofi Annan has appeared to it in person every year he has been in office.

Formally, the commission is composed of governmental representatives from 45 countries, all countries serving in rotation. But the CSW is special among all bodies in the UN in the way in which it accepts aid from grass roots organizations around the world. This year delegates from an astonishing 1300 Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) attended to help inform and lobby the official delegates. Something must be working.

This year’s topics, selected for panel discussions by experts from all continents as well as for the outcome documents, included the participation of women in development, especially in education, health and work, and the participation of women in decision making processes. There was considerable agreement about what would constitute good practice. The real problem, as everyone admits, is getting the good ideas to operate consistently in our countries.

Apart from official sessions, there are always a dizzying plethora of fascinating side events, presentations by NGO groups from everywhere. I learned this year that one reason the UN goal of universal primary education for women has not been achieved is that 92 countries still levy users feesfor public education. On a positive note, I heard about a new law in Norway stipulating that the board of directors of private companies must be at least 40% women within a short time, otherwise the company will be dissolved. As far as I know this is the first legal effort to oblige gender equality in the private business sector. Amid huge and expanding numbers of NGOs, many with fluctuating representatives, Tsung Su and I have appeared every morning at 9 at the NGO briefing session for a decade. I am proud that the IPWWC has established such a presence.

THE 48TH SESSION OF THE U.N. COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN

March 1 – 12, 2004
reported by Lucina Kathmann (San Miguel de Allende Centre) and Tsung Su (American Centre)

This year, the sessions of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) focused on two themes:
1.The role of men and boys in achieving gender equality, and
2. Women’s equal participation in conflict prevention, management and resolution, and in post-conflict peace-building – women in peace processes.
The Reports from Lucina Kathmann and Tsung Su, each inspiring, cannot be reproduced here in full, and are lightly edited in the excerpts that follow.

LUCINA: Background: last year the Commission failed to arrive at consensus. This year’s 900 NGO representatives (the largest ever except for Beijing + 5 – next year we will be a horde) came with strategies designed to avoid a repeat of the US government-inspired political obstruction of the 2003 session.

Both Tsung Su and Lucina remarked on the presence of men, a rare sight in previous years; many work in Africa round the AIDS issue, but others – from everywhere – are relating concepts of gender to all sorts of issues. Some African male participants openly discussed their personal experiences in understanding women’s issues and coping with traditional cultural bias.

TSUNG SU: Many panels, discussions and workshops highlighted the crucial role both men and women play in achieving women’s human rights and gender rights. Panels on trafficking and prostitution underscored the male sense of sexual entitlement contributing to the sex trade of underage girls in southeast Asian countries with patrons from the West. A refreshing note: under Swedish laws, sex buyers – not the workers – are legally liable for punishment. The UN Optional Protocol (2000) spells out that trafficking of persons for sexual purposes is against international laws and conventions. Both the UN and NGOs over the years have stressed the importance of eradicating root causes of violence against women: poverty, ignorance, underdevelopment, lack of opportunities in life, and armed conflict.

A panel of experts discussed the plight of girl soldiers in Angola (used commonly by fellow soldiers), Colombia (child combatants and informants violated, killed, maimed), Sri Lanka and the Philippines. They also mentioned schoolchildren subjected to atrocities in Congo (DRC) and Sierra Leone, and girls of 10-12 cheaply available for sex.

UNIFEM and other NGOs work for progress. Initiatives include: a program entitled ”Equal Win” started in Malaysia to educate men and women in gender equality; local celebrities speaking out on women’s issues; men involved through teaching of role reversal and empathy, a 3-7 day program adopted by African NGOs. Men from Zambia, Kenya, Ethiopia and other parts of Africa formed a Travelling Conference to raise awareness of gender-based violence and support women’s rights.

Internationally, the Rome Statute (1998) of the International Criminal Court recognises that sexual violence as part of widespread or systematic attack on a civilian population constitutes the “crime of genocide and crime against humanity”. Of the first 18 judges of the ICC, 7 are women.

On promoting women’s role in peace-making, many NGOs (e.g. Hague Appeal For Peace) believe a culture of peace and justice starts with educating the very young in the “soft power” of communication, negotiation, and conflict-resolution by non-violent means.

LUCINA: There was emphasis on the UN Security Council’s Resolution 1325, which mandates as international law the participation of women in all phases of peace processes. Official panels and side events show clearly that this is not being done. The majority of the negotiators do not even know about 1325. Typically, antiwar forces are full of women, but when peace is worked out behind closed doors, the women are left outside or have only token representation. Lack of security during demobilisation, and damage and corruption in the wake of conflict point the need for openness and participation by both men and women.

TSUNG SU: Women played key roles in post-conflict reconciliation and reconstruction in Timor, Somalia and Rwanda.

A mock-trial, entitled “1325 On Trial: A Tribunal Investigating The Implementation of UN SCR 1325 Highlighting the Role of Men”, featured opening statements by opposing “counsels”, and testimony both in defence and criticism by witnesses – representatives from UNIFEM (Nepal, Colombia, Sweden, USA and Iraq). The audience voted overwhelmingly in favour of the plaintiff – i.e. supporting the contention that UN and member states FAILED to implement 1325 robustly – still, the Resolution itself was never faulted as a positive instrument to promote women’s rights and peace-making power.

LUCINA: I personally found the focus on the positive work of peace thrilling. There were workshops on conflict resolution, on mental health many years after...and there HAS been considerable work on peace in all its phases, e.g. documentation of cases where armed conflict has been prevented, using as an important technique women informants who tell when there are sudden migrations of men or weapons build-ups.

I took the floor to complain of the miserable participation by NGOs from Latin America. The problem is linguistic as well as economic – the problem International PEN had a few years ago – with representatives discouraged by how little of the proceedings they can understand. (Official sessions have translation but are only a tiny part of the conference work.) After my complaint, Latins mustered in a lively caucus that met every day with wonderful speakers and did a lot of work to rectify the imbalance.

Personally making introductions and translating for a man with poor English sent by the Maryknoll Sisters, resulted in his speaking, again with my translation, on a panel – a fine intervention about the postwar mental health situation in El Salvador.

BISHKEK CONFERENCE

Kyrgyzstan, June 2005

PEN Women Writer's meeting Report

by Dr. Judith Buckrich, Chair of IPWWC

During June of this year I had the good fortune of attending the inaugural PEN Women Writers’ Meeting in Bishkek, Kyrghystan. The meeting had been proposed to me by Vera Tokombaeva, President of Bishkek PEN, during the PEN Congress in Mexico City, 2003, at which I was elected Chair of the IPWWC. She had a programme already planned and all that was required of me was to try and get the funding for it and to publicise it a little. We met again at the congress in Tromso, Norway in 2004 and became more determined to make the event happen. I was really impressed by Vera and the other members of the IPWWC gathered at the congress, and determined to make the meeting happen and to make it just the first of many such meetings for women writers living in places where maintaining your writing life was extremely difficult.

International PEN found funding to pay for the accommodation and travel of the women coming from the region and for the conference expenses. We met in Bishkek on June 23. Women from Kyrghystan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and five of from Finland, Norway, Switzerland and Australia to support the meeting.

Ren Powell’s essay gives a great picture of the meeting and the place. Suffice it to say here that it was a fantastic opportunity for the women from the ‘Stans’ to discuss their problems, listen to each others’ work and gain some publicity and interest in their writing and their difficulties in maintaining their writing lives.

It was also a fantastic opportunity for the women to relax, be housed and fed in excellent accommodation and forget their everyday problems. For me it was a decisive time and I determined that such a meeting must be organised for women writers on the African continent to precede the Senegal PEN Congress planned for October 2007. Planning has in fact begun for that meeting.

The meetings are important in expanding the horizons of PEN to women who are not members of PEN but who PEN supports as part of its brief to support writers in difficult circumstances.

I look forward to meeting many more women writers in the years to come through these events.

… And Down Will Come Baby, Cradle and All: Snapshots from Bishkek and the Central Asian Women Writer's Conference
June 24-28, 2005

by Ren Powell

In the marketplace the old women sit with baskets of raspberries. A cardboard box full of chicks for sale. Kyrgyz newspapers and Russian bodice-ripper paperbacks. Plastic shoes, polyester bras, thongs and T-shirts made in China. Round loaves of bread and burlap bags filled with spices. A young woman in jeans is washing glasses in a bucket filled with soapy water. On a card table next to her are two bright blue coolers filled with Tan and Shoro. These coolers are ubiquitous on Bishkek's street corners, and Samat, a private English teacher who has agreed to be my guide while I wander through his city, insists on buying me a glass of each. Shoro is a thick, grain-based drink that you can buy with or without carbonation. Even without carbonation, the slightly fermented barley packs a bitter punch. "Full of vitamins," says Samat. Yeah, it tastes good for you. Tan is made of milk and supposedly cures hangovers. The same bite of fermentation. I drain both glasses so as not to offend, but they leave me feeling bloated, as though I'd eaten a huge meal. Since Kyrgyzstan's current unemployment rate is near 51% , I wonder if these drinks aren't meals for many of the locals.

Five days is a short time to begin to form an image of a country and its people; there is what I can observe and there is what I am told. But even two women who live on the same street will have different views of their own culture, and most people anywhere in the world will make a statement about their country at noon only to contradict themselves a dozen times before midnight. With that said:

Through a Wide Angle Lens

In late February, when I first began making plans to come to Kyrgyzstan to take part in a conference of women writers sponsored by PEN International, everyone I talked to asked, "Where?"—but after the 24th of March, most of my colleagues had heard of the poor, former Soviet country in turmoil. The Spring Revolution made headlines even in Norway. Encouraged by the revolutions in the Ukraine and Georgia, thousands of people had traveled from the south of Kyrgyzstan to Bishkek in order to support Bakiyev in overthrowing President Akaev. Not a shot was fired in the capital city, but the hungry and homeless crowd rioted: fists, sticks and rocks. Store fronts were shattered and shops were looted. Even now, in June, some of the windows around the Kyrgyz "White House" and the town square of Ala-Too are still boarded with plywood.
According to Samat, most of Bakiyev's supporters have remained in Bishkek. Maybe these are the men I see everywhere in parked cars midday, sleeping in the backseats or squatting on the ground around the Ladas and Moscowvitches, smoking and talking. Our taxi passes the land management building where whole families are gathered on the lawn, waiting, hoping to be given a parcel of land. Most of these people probably arrived in March, although internal migration has been on the rise in the country for some time now.

Bishkek itself, a city of 1 million, appears to me like a favored child once decked out in braids and ribbons let run wild . In most areas birch saplings spread unchecked and weeds have pushed through the concrete and asphalt. Along the main road to Manas Airport cattle and donkeys occasionally meander across the four lanes. The country gained its independence in 1991, ratifying its constitution in 1993. The Kyrgyz struggle for economic and social stability hasn't been easy and after the Spring Revolution many of the programs set into motion by President Akaev have been abandoned.
Samat points out one of the old libraries, now rented out as office space. Across the street is the parliament building , which faces the Lenin museum. Unlike many former Soviet states the Kyrgyz people haven't torn down the old monuments and Lenin seems to be mocking us all, his great arm lifted, finger pointing to the feral hedges . Passing through the city park, like a miniature version of Copenhagen's downtown Tivoli, coming up to the back fence of the White House , we see guards sleeping in the shade of trees, IPod headphones in their ears. The shady square next to the White House is filled with tents: green for the military boys, blue for the police force. No one seems to be carrying a gun, but they are prepared with riot gear for another uprising . A young man in uniform turns from his girlfriend to shout at me for taking a picture. He wants to know what magazine I'm representing. I'm frightened, ready to hand over my camera, but Samat laughs, teasing the soldier for chatting with his girlfriend instead of working. We walk on.

I ask Samat to take me to a bookstore and he picks one belonging to the country's largest chain. While I've already been told that a "publisher" in Kyrgyz is actually nothing more than a printer, all writers having to pay for their own publication or find sponsors, I now learn that writers are responsible for arranging distribution as well. The store is filled with Russian and French publications. A single shelf displays the books by local—that is, national—writers: about two dozen books taken on consignment, representing all genres.

Kyrgyzstan has a population of just over 5 million with two official languages: Kyrgyz and Russian. The literacy rate is 96% for women, 99% for men . There are 11 years of mandatory schooling and three major universities. University enrollment is 51% female. There are, however, very few female professors .Whatever the country's problems are—poverty, inadequate agricultural management, corruption, collapsed infrastructure—these are not uneducated people.

Where Her Stone is Thrown: The Conference

We've been told this is the first time so many women writers from this region have come together to discuss issues that relate specifically to them. The conference was an initiative of Vera Tokombaeva, a journalist from Bishkek, who approached the Chair of the International PEN Women Writers Committee Judith Buckrich in 2003, and asked if PEN might be able to help organize such an event in Central Asia. Several of the women attending this conference have actually been living and writing in Bishkek without having ever spoken to one another. Other women are from Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan. They all want to discuss the difficulties of publication, the social censorship that results from gender inequality, and, well, they want to "network". I guess that's where the five of us "Westerners" come in: Judith Buckrich from Australia; Kristin Schnider, Switzerland; Kristiina Pystinen and Rita Dahl, Finland; and myself, Norway. Our role here isn't to teach or guide, but learn and establish professional relationships with our Central Asian colleagues.

The conference begins in an auditorium at the Arts Museum with a press conference and three short films: a black and white documentary of the Spring Revolution titled Crash Down from the 7th Floor; a quiet, scenic story of a young rural couple and the circumstances surrounding the birth of their first child, Tunguch (First Born); and a controversial documentary about Bride Kidnapping, directed by Petr Lom. The following day, the most intensive of the conference, this documentary comes up in discussion again and again.

Perhaps the most startling aspect of the conference is the ambivalence these writers express regarding their roles as creative women in their society. Feminism as theory is not discussed and any inquiries in that vein result in general bewilderment. These women's concerns are practical, urgent and often contrary.

It's clear that women, married women, are traditionally subjugated by their husbands in this culture. One Kyrgyz proverb says that a girl stays where her stone is thrown. As depicted in the documentary, bride kidnapping is a long-standing tradition. Although technically illegal since 1994, it is still a relatively common practice, whether arranged through families, or as nearly random snatchings. One of the women says that, at this point, it is a priority just to get the word out that the practice is actually illegal. Technically, the kidnapper can be given a prison sentence as long as 5 years. However, the authorities only intervene when a formal complaint is made by the bride's family.

Traditionally, the bridegroom picks out his intended and, enlisting the help of male relatives, kidnaps and takes her to his parents' house. At that point the female relatives take over with persuasions and threats of curses should she refuse the boy. Once the girl crosses the threshold, her fate is sealed. She either stays, donning the white wedding veil and drinking from the marriage cup; or she leaves, accursed, her virtue henceforth in question and her prospects for a respectable marriage ruined. Social blackmail. While this documentary has been shown by the BBC, it has been banned from Kyrgyz television.

One of the women at the conference, a poet named Svetlana Suslova, says she is embarrassed by this documentary being shown at the conference, believing it portrays the Kyrgyz people as backward and ignorant, and misrepresents the modern Kyrgyz woman. Yet, two of the other women proceed to share their experiences of having been kidnapped: one refused to be married and is now a single mother, the other says she had been dating her boyfriend for two years when he took her to his brother's house where his family told her they wanted her to stay. The former explains that she had known the boy vaguely, had had eye contact, but was not ready to marry. The latter describes her experience as romantic. I think about the English tradition of a man kneeling and unexpectedly proposing marriage. One doesn't even have to take this to the extreme to see that this tradition also puts the woman in a passive position, not being expected to actively pursue a life partner, but to wait for a man to make an offer she can either refuse or accept. Today, perhaps, this kind of proposal is largely symbolic, only made after discussions and with a mutual understanding that a partnership has already been tacitly (or even formally) agreed upon. Yet, this latter woman's kidnapping was also symbolic. Local traditions are rarely as singular as they first appear.

In Kyrgyzstan, a woman traditionally exerts her power and influence through childrearing. One woman proudly states, "It's the woman's responsibility to nurture the soul of the child". Asija Baigogina of Kazakhstan goes so far as to say that the children of women writers display a higher intelligence than other children. In all the discussion about men seeing women writers as a threat to their status, not one of the women expresses a wish to see men taking on a greater role in childrearing or homemaking. Put another way, it didn't appear that these women were eager to relinquish the power they did have in family relationships. Motherhood seems to be an unspoken certainty of what they refer to as "The Feminine Life". Questions made by visiting PEN members about whether women could identify themselves as women independent of their roles as wives or mothers also seem to create confusion. (Granted, much confusion may be due to translation issues). However, when discussing a woman who was running for president, one of her supporters present at the conference clearly states that the candidate isn't "a woman in the ordinary sense": she is a widow.

The Feminine vs. The Creative

The phrase that emerges repeatedly through translation is "the feminine life", referring to housework, childrearing and other, familial responsibilities. This is set up against what they call "the creative life", writing poetry, prose, journalism etc. It seems these women really do see their femininity in terms of their traditional duties, and their creative urges as either gender neutral or masculine pursuits. When I, quite awkwardly, attempt to ask whether any of them see their writing as springing from the same feminine source of creative power as childbirth and childrearing, the room goes silent. The translator asks me to clarify: do I mean that my writing is driven by my libido? I decide to stop talking and just listen.

A Glass Ceiling Named Nancy Drew

Immediately before coming to Bishkek, I attended the PEN congress in Slovenia. One afternoon I met a man attending another conference at the same hotel. He was a moral philosopher teaching at a Florida university. I explained that I was with the Women Writers Committee of PEN, an organization working for free speech and literacy. The next morning at breakfast this philosopher asks my companion if she is also here for the Romance Writers' Convention. I wanted to throw a book at him, something thick, like DeBeauvoir's Second Sex, but I can't say I was surprised. So, neither am I surprised to learn that the women in Kyrgyzstan are allowed to write detective novels and light romances with impunity. Provided there's no sex in their romances.

Writing about sex, in novels or poetry, brings a woman author's virtue into question. Married woman who write about sexual experiences are accused of having affairs. At the Bishkek conference, Svetlana Suslova is not joking when she says poetesses should never marry. She claims more than one talented poetess has turned out nothing but dribble after marrying. The women talk about how they censor themselves out of fear of being divorced or reviled by their children. If I weren't committed to keeping my mouth shut, I'd assure them this isn't a Kyrgyz or Central Asian phenomenon. Perhaps this isn't even a gender issue. I will, however, grant that the risks of declaring this kind of independence are greater for these women than for me or my colleagues in Europe with greater economic possibilities, social mobility, and fewer genuine taboos.

"Judgment by Wolves"

In so many ways, "support network" is a disparaged term. The connotations are "new age", "pop-psych" and, arguably, gender-specific and patronizing. Still, when the moderator divides us into workgroups to discuss what practical steps should be taken in the future to help women writers in Central Asia, a "support network" is what comes to my mind. So many of these women are writing in relative isolation.

The Kyrgyz women describe the immense social pressure, the "judgment by wolves" they endure from their communities if they attempt to write about politics, or other "serious" issues. In Norway there is a saying that women are women's worst enemies; according to Irina Kozlinskaja only 10% of Kyrgyz women believe that women should use political means to improve their situation. Even in this room we have a breadth of opinions: one woman says "We need to wait to act; this is a time for discussion"; the next tells us her sources say that more than 90% of Kyrgyz women are physically or emotionally abused by their husbands, that young women are committing suicide because of social censorship. Yet another defends the censorship of school textbooks when it comes to teaching teenagers about female reproductive anatomy. Irina Kozlinskaja says that they first need to determine whether women actually want gender equality. What is gender equality? I wonder. What will it be for them? And what are these women's real expectations for themselves as writers?

It seems to me that, for some of these women, the grass isn't just greener it's jade and emerald on our side of the East/West divide. One of the women talked about how easy it would be to publish in Europe once they had translations of their work in English, German, or French. Yes, our opportunities for publishing are greater, but even for us it's not easy. And interest in translations isn't exactly burgeoning in the European and American markets. It may take much more discussion to form realistic expectations.

Seeing as how few of these women have reliable access to internet, their goals seem ambitious: organizing book exhibitions, political lobbying, televised round-table discussions, computer programs based on children's literature, etc. But looking at and listening to these women, I don't doubt they can accomplish whatever they set out to do collectively. The greatest hurdle may be establishing a community, finding a space and method for productive communication. We, as the visiting PEN members, agree that we aren't there to make extravagant promises, but we can help them by sharing information about computer listservs and similar solutions, by making them aware of publication venues such as WordsWithoutBorders.org, and by offering moral support and solidarity.

A Panorama

On my last night in Bishkek, Samat tells me his student and friend Sergei wants to drive us around town. We won't have to pay a taxi. His friend just wants to meet foreigners. It's immediately obvious that Sergei is well-off as he pulls up in his big, black Mitsubishi. Sergei speaks Russian with eloquence, I'm sure, but his English is labor-intensive. And since my Russian is limited to "Cheers" and "Thank You", conversation is slow. I learn that Sergei is Moldavian, having emigrated with his family when he was 13. He is what they call a shuttle, someone who routinely travels to the United Arab Emirates to buy goods (tax free) and brings them home to sell. We were told the day before that immediately following the collapse of the Soviet Union, when men were too demoralized to work, many women supported their families as shuttles. Sergei has two hotels and several stores, all of which were plundered on March 24th. He was away in the United Arab Emirates when he heard the news of the riots. The airport had closed and there was no way for him to get home for days. He smiles. Everything is going well, now, yes. "Ah, you're a writer?" he says. He wants to know if I write detective stories.

Five of us are going to dinner: Sergei, Samat, the Chair of the Women Writers Committee Judith Buckrich, Kristin Schnider from Swiss German PEN and me. A little student café where we eat five kinds of salad and shish kebab. MTV is on silently in the corner of the room. Both Judith and Kristin are well-traveled, but I tell them this is as far off the beaten track as I've ever been; I've never been in a city without an Irish pub. "Ah," says Samat, "you want to go to the Irish pub? We can take you there."
Instead Sergei drives us all to a look-out point near a restaurant called the Panorama. He wants to show us Bishkek at night from above. The guidebook says Bishkek is the name of a butter churn, but Samat says it also means cradle. He speaks optimistically of the country, claiming to have rarely seen pregnant women in the city in the past; he says today he's seen four. He thinks that means people have hope. Not only does the feminist in me react to his statement, I also remember what Leyli Kerova said at the conference about the increasing number infant corpses being found in the city. Hope is a vital and precious commodity. I hope Samat is right.

Sergei has brought beer, wine and dried fish, which he nimbly rids of eyes and innards before handing over to us. The sun has set already, but we watch the remaining sunlight fade and the stars and the neon and electric lights of the casinos and discos take over. There are a dozen cars parked here. Four teenagers in the nearest car are playing a board game in the backseat. A family is packing up their picnic. A couple is sitting on the low concrete guardrail, their arms around each other. A small fire is burning at the edge of the city. Bishkek's make-out point, I joke. "Yes," laughs Sergei. "I only have one wife and am allowed three. I've kidnapped you all." Since I'm married with two kids and my two colleagues are single, I'm sure I'm the one in the clear. As we pile back into Sergei's car to leave, the teenagers in the car beside us put away the board game and switch off the light to neck in relative privacy. It really is the same all over.

16-7-2005

International PEN Women Writers Conference "Women and Censorhip" in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, June 2005

"A Few Thoughts"

by Kristin T. Schnider

Back in my own place in another mountainous and landlocked country, i.e. Switzerland, the animated discussions dur-ing and around the conference of Women Writers in Bishkek, the sound of the poems and short stories I heard at the literary evening still reverberate, impressions, images, thoughts and questions, triggered by the encounter are still very much with me.

Kyrgyzstan is about as far away as I had ever been, the Central Asian region unknown to me, but for what one reads and hears in the news, which as a rule concentrate on sensations and impart little of the true circum-stances in which people live their daily lives. Although an avid reader, I had never come across literature from that part of the world except for the novels of one sole protagonist: Cengiz Aitmatov. Yet his books have been around for such a long time and are so widely translated that despite their contents I had stopped thinking of him as a "Kyrgyz" writer, the same way I don't think of Wole Soyinka as a "Nigerian" author.

It is no coincidence that the one writer from Central Asia I know of is male, way in his seventies and lives abroad.

Vera Tokombaeva, journalist and executive director of PEN Bishkek had alerted the International PEN Women Writers Committee to the fact that not only people in other countries don't hear or read of Kirgiz, Tad-shik, Kazach or Uzbek authors, but that in their own countries possibilities to be publisehd were virtually nil. Even more worrying: in the course of time it had become noticeable that women writers had as much as vanished from the scene.

Had they gone under in the transition from Sovjet rule to democratisation?
It was readily agreed to support her in organising a conference in Bishkek where those issues and especially the role and fate of women writers within the Central Asian region could be addressed.

The main objective was to create an opportunity for women writers of Central Asia to meet and enter a discourse about their situation within their countries, exchange ideas and hopefully come up with suggestions as to what can be done, what they would like to do; delegates from International PEN were invited to participate and establish the kind of exchange which allows women from Central Asia to feel less isolated and more involved with the rest of the world.

The conference took place in Bishkek from June 24th to 26th its focus on the aptly chosen theme "women and censorhip". It was a full success. There were carefully prepared reports offered for discussion, three movies and a literary evening covered the artistic as well as the social and politcial background, and there was a lively ex-change of ideas and personal tales throughout those days.

At the conference itself statistical material on the general situation of women in Kyrgyzstan confirmed the neces-sity for action, other reports, focussing on gender relations, pointing out the role of religion and tradition and on the working conditions of women writers lent depth to the initial layout. The report on the state of things in the lit-erary and academic field in Kazakhstan showed how different circumstances are within the region itself. There appar-ently the literary scene, including women, is more lively and gender studies on academic level more common. Unfortunately the guests from Uzbekistan and Afghanistan were unable to attend; travel between the countries of Central Asia is marred by strict visa regulations.

The ensuing debates, interlaced with stories of individual experiences were lively and every now and then be-came even heated, which proved the importance of entering into a discourse. There was by no means unanimity, neither as to the evaluation of the situation nor to the course actions should take. Agreement was shown, how-ever, when at the end of the conference as first conclusions the plans for action were summarized and taken down as aims to reach eventually. It became very clear that all who attended are intent on continuing the work, wish to organise more loval and regional meetings to keep up the dialogue which everyone visibly enjoyed and found fruitful.

An outsider to the region and its specific concerns but very much a woman writer myself and aware of the per-sistent and ubiquitous pattern of how women are still regarded as decoration, second rate writers, second rate citizens or even second rate people all over the world in differing degrees, I sympathised with a lot of what I heard. Yet not understanding the main conference language (Russian) and unfamiliar with the cultural background I often felt bewildered. That of course does not stop me from further participation in the process started at the conference. I want to contribute to an exchange and offer what support is wanted, together with the Women Writers Committee of International PEN.

It was an honour that some of the women writers present entrusted me with their texts, and to set about trying to have them translated is the least I can do. How interesting and important it will be to be able to read the first study of gender relations in Kyrgyzstan which has been published this year!

Bewilderment in such a situation only works as an incentive to learn more, and it tells me that in addition to the common ground covered there are important and interesting cultural differences to be taken into consideration.

Censorship is a universal problem, especially in its broader meaning within the field of freedom of expression, of writing. The stalkers in the service of a government, an ideology, even of companies in collaboration with governments, who see to it that those who utter unpopular critical opinions or uncover scandals are sent to jail, driven into exile or even assassined are the worst aspect of censorship. But suppression of artistic expression begins earlier and has, - if not purely commercial within a world bent on free market ideology – its roots within the social make up of the communities in question. Following the discussion on the main topic, women and censorship in Central Asia, I learned just how hard it is for the strong and determined women I met to overcome censorship and self censorship within their societies.

Take Kyrgyzstan: the level of education is high and a lot of women enter higher education, so many that they are in a slight majority at college. Nevertheless there are only few women in high positions, be it at the university, in business or poli-tics and there are only few women writers actually publishing their texts - not only due to the generally hard con-ditions within the virtually non existant publishing business. Although in other countries, - e.g. in Switzerland where women did not enjoy the right to vote until 1972 - similar complaints are heard, the high discrepancy between education, skills, endeavour and real public presence and power is surprising.

As I understood, a restrictive image of what a woman should be and how a woman ought to behave prevails. First and foremost a woman is perceived as a mother and wife, tending the family. So much so that women feel they are confronted with the choice between being either creative or getting married. Women are not supposed to enter politics, deemed psychologically unfit for the task. If women insist on writing they are supposed to stick to detective stories or romantic topics. Without ever becoming too concrete, too "psychological" that is, and they must not write too much about love and desire let alone sexuality lest they be deemed unfaithful wives or loose women. Their writing must not interfere with their husband's or family's sense of decorum. To struggle against such views is hard and the dilemma women in Kyrgysztan are caught up in becomes obvious. Selfcensorship, writing for the drawer or only publishing watered down versions of the poems and stories they really mean to write are the consequence.

There is an amount of censorship to be found anywhere, opinion on what does not belong into the public sphere varies from community to community. Yet transgression is one of the inherent features of art, bringing up topics a society shies away from, touching on taboos is one of its functions. The question of how far a text, a poem, a work of art should go must be left to its author within surroundings open for debate and not intent on denial, silencing and persecution. Democracies pride themselves on the freedoms they grant and most nations have ratified the universal declaration of human rights, including article 19, granting freedom of expression to anyone.
It is left to every society to negotiate the meaning of that, obviously freedom of expression does not entail the freedom to defame. Yet in order to negotiate, to debate and discuss, freedom of expression must be accepted first. It is preposterous to exert censorship based on gender inequality and prejudice.

The first Independent Women's Forum encompassing all women of the then still existing Sovjet Union, in Dubna, Moscow, 1991 was titled: "__________ _____ _______ - __ __________" - Democracy without women is no democracy". Let me add that democracy without women writers is no democracy either.

I am confident the women I had the good fortune to meet in Bishkek will continue their debate, will embark on implementing the plans they drew up at the end of the conference and finally succeed – within the region and to the point at which here, where I live, the names and books of many a young and interesting writer of Central Asia will have become familiar. International PEN

Other documents (downloads)

1. Minutes of the meetings held 14th & 17th June, 2005, including contact list

2. Preliminary program of the Bishkek Forum “Woman and censorship”
June 24-26, 2005, hotel “Dostuk”, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

3. Official invitation