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Political Turmoil in Kyrgyzstan: Older People's Role in Conflict Resolution
HelpAge International
April 8, 2005
Older men and women in Southern Kyrgyzstan are learning to assess and mediate conflicts.
Kyrgyzstan is in turmoil as rival political parties wrangle over the right to form an interim government, following the departure of President Akayev. HelpAge International's affiliate organisation, UMUT, report that that pension payments are to be delayed indefinitely.
During this period of uncertainty for older people, UMUT has opened emergency offices in partnership with other organisations including HelpAge International, to provide older people with information, legal advice and food. The offices liaise with law enforcement bodies and legal representatives to keep track of all the latest developments.
HelpAge International and UMUT are also calling on the new interim government to meet the commitments Kyrgyzstan signed up to in the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing. This would mean continuing initiatives targeting vulnerable and chronically poor older people.
Older people as mediators
HelpAge International has been working in Kyrgyzstan for over three years. In partnership with UMUT and another local NGO, Foundation for Tolerance International (FTI), HelpAge International has helped set up projects to look at the key role older people play in supporting their communities.
In the Ferghana Valley, Southern Kyrgyzstan, older people living in border areas were once friends with their cross-border neighbours in Uzbekistan. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, older people on both sides of the border have experienced conflict, poverty and exclusion from decision-making processes.
FTI trains aksakals (older people) to use their wisdom and experience to advise younger members of the community, mediate conflicts and manage resolution of community problems. The partnership now has a network of 15 older people's groups throughout the country who are trained:
to design and manage self-help initiatives
to assess and mediate conflicts
to work in partnership with local and national government.
Helping themselves and their communities
Each group has developed activities that allow older people to help themselves and their communities. Many groups have chosen to implement activities that address the underlying causes of conflict and 10 older people have become certified conflict mediators.
One group, made up of retired members of the militia, runs a programme to train younger militia representatives on conflict resolution. Other groups have organised roundtables with government to address violations of the rights of the Uzbek minority living in Southern Kyrgystan.
Older participants are currently working with project partners to put together a Good Practice Manual of learning from the project, which will be launched at a conference later this year.
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