In this issue:

UNITED NATIONS IN KYRGYZSTAN

• Meeting of the UN Journalist Club

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP)

• An international expert mission on anti-corruption and good governance finished its five-days work in Kyrgyzstan today
• UNDP Agreement with Issykkul Provinces of Kyrgyzstan

UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND (UNFPA)

• Health Care in Central Asia: Workshop in Issykkul
• Stronger Voices for Reproductive Health: Workshop in New York

UNITED NATIONS IN KYRGYZSTAN

Meeting of UN Journalist Club was held in UN House on June 8, 2003. Main issues discussed at the meeting were related to the topic of Human Rights. That is why, together with the journalists representing the national media – TV and radio companies, newspapers and leading news agencies, three UN missions present in Bishkek at the moment were also invited to participate at the meeting.

It is already the second week that the mission represented by Mr. Patrick Van Weerelt, HURIST Program Officer and Human Rights Adviser of the UNDP Officer in Geneva, Ms. Marcia V.J. Kran, Practice Manager of Democratic Governance Policy Support & Programme Development at the Europe and CIS Bratislava Regional Centre and Mr. Zanofer Ismalebbe, Human Rights Development Officer for the UN Resident Coordinator System in Uzbekistan have worked in Bishkek. The main goal of the mission is to study UNDP programs in Kyrgyzstan and generate recommendations concerning the ways of including the Human Rights Based Approach in all the UNDP projects during the new programming cycle.

Another mission represented by Mr. Bernard Mudho, Independent Expert of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, and Mr. Rio Hada, OHCHR Human Rights Officer, aims to assess the ways in which the foreign debts affect the country; to examine the reforms being implemented by the Government in order to ensure the loyalty to economic, cultural and social human rights; and to generate recommendations for taking practical measures it order to consolidate/secure these rights throughout the country.

Mr. Ray Mullersen, Adviser on Human Rights, Head of Regional Office of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Almaty visited Bishkek on his way to the International Conference “Eurasia in XXI Century: Dialogue Between the Cultures or Conflict of Civilizations?” to be held in Issykkul on June 10, 2004.

In addition, Mr. Chris Lovelace, World Bank Representative, Ms. Kakoli Ray, Head of IOM Mission, Mr. Alexander Ilyn, UNFPA Program Coordinator in Kyrgyzstan, Mr. Edil Baysalov, Head of the Coalition “For Democracy and Civil Society” and Ms. Cholpon Jakupova, Director of Legal Clinic “Adilet” participated in the meeting.

“The missions working in Kyrgyzstan with the support of the UN aims at starting a dialogue in this important sphere. Kyrgyzstan has ratified all major UN Human Rights Treaties and Conventions, said Mr. Jerzy Skuratowicz, UN Resident Coordinator at the meeting. And the role of the UN is to help the government and the society in taking practical steps in implementation of all these commitments.

By this support we’ll assist the country to address the human rights dimensions of development and examine the impediments to rights fulfillment to poor and vulnerable individuals in the Kyrgyz Republic, he said”.

Discussions between the representatives of the so called “fourth power”, the members of the missions, the UN agency leaders and the heads of the non-governmental organizations for whom “Human Rights” – is not just an empty phrase but the order of every single day, were really live and interesting.

“It is very important to view the concept of Human Rights in full spectrum and to consider the observance of not only political, but also economic, social and cultural human rights”, said Ms. Marcia Kran at the club meeting.

“The most astonishing thing is to observe how the UNDP project beneficiaries in the pilot villages communicate with the local administration”, admitted Mr. Jerzy Skuratowicz. “Our programs ensure that people’s voice is heard”.

“The situation in the field of Human rights in the region of Central Asia is very mixed and complex”, noticed Ray Mullerson. “Every country has its own specifics, its weak points. Our goal is to get rid of these defaults”.

The club meeting was finished with a pleasant ceremony of handing the plastic cards to the new members of the UN Journalist Club and awarding a diploma to the participant of the International Photo Contest in the Year of Fresh Water – Mr. Vladimir Pirogov, UN photographer and the active member of the Club.

For additional information, please contact Olga Grebennikova, UNDP Public Relations Officer. Tel.: (0 996 312) 61-12-13. Fax: (0 996 312) 61-12-17. Email:

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP)

On 11th June an international expert mission on anti-corruption and good governance finished its five-days work in Kyrgyzstan.

The mission consists of Mr. Benjamin Allen, Policy Advisor on Governance, UNDP, Bratislava, Mr. Stian Christensen, Transparency International, Berlin and Ms. Slagana Taseva, State Commission for Prevention of Corruption, Macedonia.

Fighting corruption is a major challenge facing developing countries due to the social and economic difficulties of the transition period—and Kyrgyzstan is no exception. Corruption in the country has reached a level that threatens to impede development, destabilize society and undermine the authority of the Government and confidence of the international community. Corruption has also drained the state budget of significant and much-needed revenues, thus directly impacting the welfare of the population of Kyrgyzstan.

The mission, initiated by the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic, worked in Bishkek with the support of three international organization partners—UNDP, OSCE and USAID.

Mr. Clifford Brown, Country Representative, USAID noted: - “Taking into account considerable experience and extensive knowledge of experts in this field, we hope that the mission will be able to identify the most urgent directions of reorganization process efficiently and to develop practical recommendations.

In addition to meetings with Mr. Nikolai Tanaev, Prime-Minister of Kyrgyz Republic and other Government and law enforcement officials, and the heads of international and non-governmental organizations, the mission had meetings with representatives of civil society and national experts during its visit.

Mr. Markus Muller, Head of the OSCE Center in Bishkek, emphasized, "The aim now is not to further analyze the problem, as we have already done this for many years. It is now time to move forward with solutions the Government can implement immediately.”

The mission held consultations with the National Council on Good Governance, which was established by President Askar Akaev in April 2003, as well as with a number of national agencies, in order to develop strategies and an action plan to fight corruption in Kyrgyzstan.

The mission also consulted with donor organizations on a wide range of issues to provide assistance with anti-corruption reforms that will be implemented by the National Council on Good Governance.

“During the coming years, Kyrgyzstan will have to face several development challenges, which will define the future of the country, - says Mr. Jerzy Skuratowicz, UNDP Resident Representative. Fighting against corruption is one of them. International community wants to assist the Government in taking appropriate measures in the implementation of anticorruption policy.”

Mission finished its activity in Bishkek with a press-conference for mass media took place at the independent information agency “AKIpress”

For additional information please contact:
Mr. Clifford Brown, Country Representative, USAID Tel.: 55-12-41 (42)
Mr. Asim Acikel, Economic and Environmental Officer, OSCE Centre in Bishkek. Tel.: 66-50-15
Ms. Ms. Olga Grebennikova, Public Relations Officer, UNDP tel. 61-12-13; e-mail

UNDP Agreement with Issykkul Provinces of Kyrgyzstan:

Agreement on cooperation between the UNDP and the Issykkul Province Administration was signed on June 8, 2004 in UN House. It is already the fourth agreement officially signed between UNDP and the province administrations. Early this year, similar agreements were signed with the governors of all the southern parts of Kyrgyzstan – Osh, Jalalabad and Batken.

With this, the UNDP – represented by Mr. Jerzy Skuratowicz, UNDP Resident Representative, and Issyk-kul Province Administration represented by Ms. Tokon Shaylieva, Governor of the province, legally confirmed the readiness to closely cooperate further in the process of province development as well as in realization of the Fundamental Principles of Development, National Strategy of Poverty Reduction and the Millennium Development Goals.

“It is obviously that UNDP cooperates with the government not only at the national level”, declared Mr. Jerzy Skuratowicz. “We establish close partnerships with the provincial, regional and primary structures of government in order to fight poverty, implement reforms of state administration and decentralization, increase the population’s participation in decision taking. With this we show the local government bodies what are the methods and approaches to be used in order to ensure the country’s successful development.

“This agreement is of huge importance to my mind”, admitted Ms. Tokon Shaylieva. “Due to the presidential decree, Issykkul is a pilot province for decentralization and we will need serious support from the side of UNDP, since this organization has a lot of expertise and experience in this field.”

For additional information, please contact Olga Grebennikova, UNDP Public Relations Officer. Tel.: (0 996 312) 61-12-13. Fax: (0 996 312) 61-12-17. Email:

UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND (UNFPA)

Health Care in Central Asia: Workshop in Issykkul

UNFPA/WHO Workshop on implementation of WHO Family Planning and STI/RTI tools in the Central Asian Republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan took place in Issykkul, Kyrgyzstan between 25 and 29 May 2004.

In October 2003 United Nations Population Fund and World Health Organization agreed upon co-operation in the frame of Strategic Partnership Programme on Reproductive Health for the period till December 2005. The main objective of the Programme is to support guidelines introduction, adaptation/adoption and implementation process through technical advisors from UNFPA, WHO and other cooperating agencies.

In the frame of the programme the workshop participants studied situations in Central Asian countries in terms of STI spread, including HIV, and RH, and also learned about their programme initiatives for dealing with these issues. A special emphasize was on strengthening cooperation among different medical services.

As a result of the meeting, each country developed its action plans on Reproductive health services based on the overall dynamics of reforms and developments happening in the countries.

Stronger Voices for Reproductive Health: Workshop in New York

Workshop for the project “Stronger Voices for Reproductive Health: Improving the Quality of Sexual and Reproductive Health Care” took place in New York between 5 and 7 May 2004.

“Stronger Voices for Reproductive Health: Improving the Quality of Sexual and Reproductive Health Care” is a UNFPA-led project that aims to improve the quality of sexual and reproductive health care in 6 developing countries of the world: India, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritania, Nepal, Peru and Tanzania.

UNFPA partners with ILO/STEP, UNICEF, and WHO on this project. This new initiative, Stronger Voices for Reproductive Health, represents a new client-centered approach. The purpose of the project is to strengthen collaboration between providers and users as an effective and timely way to improve the quality of reproductive health care.

The project’s approach is to empower organized groups of women by raising awareness of their reproductive health needs and rights, and to encourage social mobilization to secure those rights. The project is being implemented in partnership with governments, international and national NGOs and community-based organizations.

UNFPA representatives, NGOs and UN partners (WHO, Population Council) involved in implementation of the project from all countries except Mauritania took part at the workshop. Besides, specialists from TSD, SPO branches of UNFPA HQ participated as well.

The saturated agenda of the workshop enabled participants to share experience and lessons learned from planning phase, work on existing knowledge sharing asset on quality of sexual and reproductive health care placed on UNFPA web site and compendium of tools of project’s implementation, and present future plans for implementation phase of the project.

For additional information, please contact Alexander Ilyin, UNFPA Assistant Representative. Phone: (0 996 312) 61-12-02. Fax: (0 996 312) 61-12-04. Email:

For more information please also visit web sites: http://www.unfpa.org/stronger_voices and http://www.qoc.unfpa.org.kg.