WELCOME TO IWPR'S REPORTING CENTRAL ASIA, No. 598, 14 December, 2009 PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
CENTRAL ASIA: OCT/NOV 09 IWPR journalist in Kyrgyzstan wins an award for parliamentary coverage. By Saule Mukhametrakhimova, Central Asia editor (14-Dec-09) REPORTING IMPACT CENTRAL ASIA: OCT/NOV 09 IWPR event instrumental in mobilising community efforts to deal with growing problem of suicide in Tajikistan. By Parvina Hamidova, coordinator of the IWPR Human Rights Reporting Project. 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For more information about how you can support IWPR go to: http://iwpr.net/donate **** www.iwpr.net ******************************************************************** PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS CENTRAL ASIA: OCT/NOV 09 IWPR journalist in Kyrgyzstan wins an award for parliamentary coverage. By Saule Mukhametrakhimova, Central Asia editor (14-Dec-09) Long-term IWPR contributor Asyl Osmonalieva has been awarded a prize of 1,500 US dollars for seven articles on issues debated in parliament. The competition was organised by the Kyrgyz parliament with the support of the European Commission-United Nations Development Programme Parliamentary Reform Project. The results were announced on November 4, which is celebrated in Kyrgyzstan as the Day of Information and Media. The competition was open to print and electronic media outlets as well as to individual journalists. According to Asyl, her prize came as something of a surprise, I have to admit that there was a lot of criticism in the reports so it was a bit unexpected to find that in the end my publications were named as the best. The prize comes after Asyls nomination as a finalist in the Developing Asia Journalism Awards - run by the Asian Development Bank Institute - for an article she wrote for IWPR entitled Kyrgyzstans Controversial Winter Sale, published in January 2009. In October, Asyl travelled to Tokyo for a training programme on economic, financial and environmental reporting as part of the award. Talking about her analytical reports on the inner working of parliament, Asyl said, The decision to take part in the competition came at the last minute; I submitted seven reports just before the deadline. Two of these items were written for IWPR. One of them, Disappointment at Kyrgyz Media Law Changes, looked into amendments to the media legislation approved by parliament. These required television stations to ensure that not less than 50 per cent of their overall output was in the Kyrgyz language. They also had to produce 50 per cent of their content themselves and reduce the amount of programming bought in, mostly from Russian TV. The bill promptly came in for public criticism. We did everything possible to give even-handed and balanced information and provide an opportunity those involved to state their position, Asyl said. Another IWPR article, Kyrgyzstan: Yet Another Tax Amnesty, was about an effort to get on which taxes had not been paid. The controversial bill brought a strong reaction from the public and some deputies. Asyl said that by focusing on the heart of the controversy, the report depicted the difficult political dispute that lay behind this law. It was not the first time that Asyl had focused on the work of the parliament. Prior to that, she published a series of articles on transparency in the Kyrgyz parliament written with a grant from Internews. It was a success and her articles were republished in Kyrgyzstan and in Russia. Asyl continues to write about parliament and her aim is to show not only discussions themselves but also events behind the scenes. I want to show parliament from various angles - how do big and small factions work in the parliament, what are the rules for their engagement? How do [deputies] act in response to the public reaction? What do civil society, experts, the community and ordinary voters think about the quality of adopted laws? It all seemed important and interesting to me, she said. While working on her reports, Asyl found out that it pays off to go for topics that are undiscovered. For example, [I wanted] to raise the issue about discreet lobbying for various bills, Asyl said, adding that not many journalists write about this subject, possibly out of fear that it would be difficult to get interviews. But in reality it turned out that even deputies themselves are ready to talk and discuss it. She remembers the words of the deputy from the Communist party Nikolai Bailo, who praised her saying, You have chosen a very good topic. In another development, IWPR Bishkek radio editor Kaarmanbek Kuluev was one of the winners of a video competition highlighting civil society in action that was run by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE. It was launched to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain. Kaarmanbeks video Don Quixote of Bishkek tells the story of rights activist Maxim Kuleshov, who heads a group of young people united in a pressure group called Movement 25. The group protests against the policies of the Kyrgyz authorities in restricting public protests. Along with five other winners from post-communist countries, Kaarmanbek received a trip to Vienna to the OSCE in November. Maxim Kuleshov, the subject of my video, was one of the most visible human right activists. He used to come up with different protests where he would mostly act alone. Some people called him a freak, a clown. Others saw him as a great idealist. I just tried to depict both sides at the same time and show pictures of what he really does. It was just a report about the person, a story that I found interesting to tell, he said. REPORTING IMPACT CENTRAL ASIA: OCT/NOV 09 IWPR event instrumental in mobilising community efforts to deal with growing problem of suicide in Tajikistan. By Parvina Hamidova, coordinator of the IWPR Human Rights Reporting Project. (14-Dec-09) Some local authorities in Tajikistan have been spurred into making fresh efforts to tackle a rising tide of suicides by an IWPR round table on the subject. Religious leaders and teachers also followed suit, offering talks on how to cope with difficulties of life without resorting to a tragic solution. Students and teaching staff from Horog University who attended the meeting showed particular determination to put into action some of the ideas voiced during the IWPR event. They introduced weekly discussions and plan to start a campaign for their university to open a psychology department. The IWPR round table on the issue of suicide and ways of dealing with it was held on October 22 in Gorno-Badakhshan, an autonomous region in the remote eastern part of Tajikistan. A similar debate was held there in June. The latest session resulted in setting up a working group that intends to petition the regional administration for help in preventing suicide and raising awareness about the issue. Organised within the European Union-funded IWPR Human Rights project, the meeting in Horog aimed to bring together the human rights community and media to raise awareness about the rising trend in suicide attempts. The event was part of IWPRs activities and publications addressing the alarming trend of an increase in suicide attempts across Tajikistan against a backdrop of an economic crisis that has hit the country badly. According to the deputy head of the interior ministry department in Gorno-Badakhshan, Nazarbek Hudoyorov, who also took part in the IWPR round table, over the first nine months of this year there were 28 suicides and attempts compared a total of 12 last year. Of this years total, 20 were men and eight women and among them nine youngsters, Hudoyorov said. The proposed working group would include members of local government bodies, youth groups and non-governmental organisations to work with the public on preventing suicide attempts and to raise awareness of the issue. A participant in the round table, social activist Aziz Gaesov, said, People always have problems but against the backdrop of the [financial] crisis, they have become particularly numerous. As a result, depression sets in from which no one is immune. According to Gaesov, each university and each organisation that has a large enough number of employees should have a room where people can talk to a psychologist. The meeting received extensive coverage on regional TV and radio stations. In the words of radio journalist Safarmon Butabekova, it was the first time that the debate on suicide had involved such a wide range of people, There was a huge response and as a result the problem was raised at the highest level. Follow-up events to the IWPR meeting were held based on ideas and proposals discussed during the round table. According to Butabekova, city administration and district governments arranged public events to demonstrate that the issue of suicide and its causes should be talked about openly. She said that it also raised the authorities profile and brought them closer to the community. According to Butabekova, For the first time people feel that they can discuss their concerns and worries with officials. One of the participants at the IWPR meeting, the head of the department for youth affairs and sport in Darvaz district, Komron Mirov, said that having participated in the round table he now pays more attention to the problem when visiting public places for his job. During a recent school visit, he reminded students that problems are an inevitable part of life and should not be an obstacle to living. He also told of his own experience of having a conversation with a woman who was on the verge of taking her own life and was persuaded to seek help. Students now also find it easier to discuss the issue with their teachers and peers. Zebinisso Asanova, dean of the faculty at Horog University, told IWPR that this year seven students took their lives, At these meeting we discuss the reasons that prompted our students to end their lives. It turned out that for some it was a personal tragedy, for others financial problems. According to Asanova, there have been no suicide attempts at the university since they introduced the practice of weekly debates. Hudoyorov told IWPR that the problem is very complex and requires the participation of all parties involved, I believe that society should deal with this problem collectively. On their own, law enforcement bodies and other organisations or government agencies wont be able to do anything. **** www.iwpr.net ******************************************************************** REPORTING CENTRAL ASIA provides the international community with a unique insiders' perspective on the region. Using our network of local journalists, the service publishes news and analysis from across Central Asia on a weekly basis. The service forms part of IWPR's Central Asia Project based in Almaty, Bishkek, Tashkent and London, which supports media development and encourages better local and international understanding of the region. IWPR's Reporting Central Asia is supported by the UK Community Fund. The service is published online in English and Russian. The opinions expressed in Reporting Central Asia are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the publication or of IWPR. REPORTING CENTRAL ASIA: Editor-in-Chief: Anthony Borden; Managing Editor: Yigal Chazan; Senior Editor and Acting Central Asia Director: John MacLeod; Central Asia Editor: Saule Mukhametrakhimova. IWPR PROJECT DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORT: Executive Director: Anthony Borden; Head of Programmes: Niall MacKay **** www.iwpr.net ******************************************************************** IWPR is an international network of four organisations which are governed by boards of senior journalists, peace-building experts, regional specialists and business professionals. IWPR builds democracy at the frontlines of conflict and change through the power of professional journalism. IWPR programmes provide intensive hands-on training, extensive reporting and publishing, and ambitious initiatives to build the capacity of local media. Supporting peace-building, development and the rule of law, IWPR gives responsible local media a voice. IWPR - Africa, P.O. 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