International Community Fails Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstani officials failed to effectively protect all of its citizens during the outbreak of violence, in particular the Uzbek community. (c) Viktor Drachev/AFP/Getty Images

We could read their signs of distress from outer space.

People trapped on the blood-stained streets of southern Kyrgyzstan painted massive signs on roads and sports fields for the sake of sending one simple message that the entire world could understand – “S.O.S.”

This international code for help was as clear as day from our satellite images of the country. However, nearly two months after the worst of the violence has subsided, the international community has failed to push for justice. To this day, entire neighborhoods are still burned to the ground and the people who lived there are still looking for a place to call home.

Reports are prevalent that Kyrgyzstani law enforcement abused its authority by failing to protect those citizens who were being targeted during the period of unrest.

Now that video and photographic evidence from local journalists and residents who documented this abuse of power are beginning to surface, law enforcement officers are re-igniting a new wave of terror – silencing journalists and anyone who dares to reveal the truth about the horrific acts of violence that were perpetrated primarily against Kyrgyzstan’s ethnic Uzbek population.

It wasn’t bad enough that Kyrgyzstan’s government failed to protect its citizens from violence, now the perpetrators of the violence are about to get away with impunity.

Don’t let Kyrgyzstan’s government get away with this outrageous abuse of power. Call for an impartial, international investigation into the recent violence in southern Kyrgyzstan.