3 February 2016, in Bishkek at the Kyrgyz National Museum of Fine Arts named after Gapar Aytiev the ceremony of awarding winners of the Republican contest among journalists for the coverage of topic on access to justice for persons with disabilities, children, rural women, youth at risk, and ethnic minorities in the Kyrgyz Republic took place.

The main objectives of the competition was to promote legal empowerment of the vulnerable groups of population – rural women, children, youth at risk, people with disabilities and ethnic minorities.

During the ceremony the representatives of the campaign discussed the results of the work, consisted of trainings for journalists covering access to justice issues, creation of columns in various media on legal issues, information stands and close cooperation with journalists covering this subject.

The competition was announced by the Public Association “Journalists” and the UNDP project “Widening Access to Justice for Legal Empowerment in the Kyrgyz Republic” and “Improving the Rule of Law and Access to Justice for Sustainable Peace”.

“We have already covered this topic, but in the framework of the media campaign, our team studied this problem more profound. In our materials we clearly define the main factors that affect the violation of the rights of vulnerable people, in the materials we give advice and tips on the restoration of violated rights. We even covered the voting process for persons with disabilities and monitored the implementation of their rights during voting process” – said famous TV journalist Baima Sutenova in her speech.

During media campaign, journalists raised the main factors that affect the violation of the rights of vulnerable groups of population such as: lack of access to qualified lawyers, lack of trust in the judicial system, location of justice institutions far away from the residence, frequent failure of judicial decisions, absence of available environment for persons with disabilities in the buildings of justice institutions and the lack of legal documents.

“In the course of a media company, we had a great opportunity to work closely with a wide range of experts. We are interested to continue covering this topic in future as our journalists already have good knowledge and experience in this subject”– said one of the winners of the competition, the Chief editor of “Politklinika” Dilbar Alimova.

According to UNDP Assistant Resident Representative in the Kyrgyz Republic Erkin Kasybekov, in the framework of UNDP projects there was developed a communication strategy to assist in solving  above told issues. It is based on two key objectives: inform vulnerable groups about their rights as much as possible; educate and train a group of journalists who understand the causes, consequences and implications of the problem of access to justice for vulnerable people. Due to the fact that the majority of vulnerable people live in rural areas, we made more emphasis for regional media, and for the preparation of materials in Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Russian languages.

By the decision of the jury, consisting of prominent media experts and specialists in the field of the right of access to justice, following journalists were selected as a winners of the competition:

TV programs

1st place – Azamat Bektursunov, “Azattyk Media”;

2nd place – Nazgul Konurbaeva, “Capital info”

3rd place – Baima Sutenova, “Sanat TV”;

Encouragement prize – Meerim Tashibekova, “NTS”.

Press

1st place – Askhat Subanbekov, “Super-Info”;

2nd place – Kymbat Turdubekova, “Politklinika”;

3rd place – Nuria Shagapova, “Dlya vas”, “Chuiskie vesti”;

Encouraging prize – Aigul Bakeeva, “Politklinika”;

Radio

1st place – Khilola Ashurova, “Yntymak”;

2nd place – Mayrash Bazlakunova, “Birinchi radio”;

3rd place – Salta Kaldybaeva, “Birinchi radio”;

Encouraging prize – Sabyraly Abdumomunov, “Azattyk Media”.

Internet editions

1st place – Zinakan Pasanova, freelance journalist;

2nd place – Ulan Egizbaev, “Azattyk Media”;

3rd place – Gulmira Tynaliev, “Voice of Freedom”;

Encouraging prize – Gүlnur Zhumalieva, “Kabar Ordo”.

All nominees received cash prizes.

The awarding ceremony was attended by the UNDP Assistant Resident Representative in the Kyrgyz Republic Erkin Kasybekov, representatives of the KR Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Labor and Social Development of the Kyrgyz Repubilc, non-governmental organizations working on rights of PwDs, rural women, children and journalists.

Meri Bekeshova, Communication specialist of the project “Widening Access to Justice for Legal Empowerment in the Kyrgyz Republic”