Kyrgyzstan

August 2018: Sent an email to the mission in Geneva requesting for a meeting. No response.

February 2019: GCPEA met with the Deputy Permanent Representative. This was the first meeting with Kyrgyzstan. She was not familiar with the background, and responded positively. She looked at the endorsement map and pointed out that the Russian Federation and the majority of Central Asian countries haven’t endorsed. She requested a letter addressed to their Foreign Minister. Follow-up: GCPEA followed up in writing, sharing the letter for the Foreign Minister, and the template endorsement letter.

October 2019: A brief discussion with the Third Secretary in New York, who promised to share the information with the expert covering human rights issues. I feel that we will need to follow up with the mission in Geneva to make sure something actually happens. Follow-up: gender recommendations, the factsheet on the implementation of the Declaration, and key points on why they should endorse.

November 2022: On 15 November, Apolline and Nevena met with Ms. Saikal Esengeldieva, First Secretary at the PM in Geneva (recently elected at the HRC for 2023). In 2019, GCPEA sent a letter to the MFA encouraging them to endorse the SSD. As a result, in September 2022, the MoE submitted a draft resolution on SSD endorsement to the Cabinet of Ministers for a public discussion (please check this article found by HRW researcher). Note: this sudden renewal of interest is directly linked with recent clashes at the Tadjik border that led to attacks on schools – the government now sees endorsement of the SSD as a priority. The delegate explained that the endorsement procedure was now in its final stage. We discussed that they could announce endorsement ahead of the ECW High Level Financing Conference (Feb. 2023). HRW had a meeting with the MFA and the Ministry has confirmed that Kyrgyzstan had moved forward with endorsing the declaration. They are currently waiting on instructions from Norway on how to proceed. All of the relevant ministries and agencies within Kyrgyzstan have signed on to the internal proposition by the Ministry of Education and MFA.