September 5, 2023 

Bishkek, KYRGYZSTAN. On 5 September, the joint EU-UN Spotlight Programme organized a closing event, marking the end of the four-year Spotlight Initiative in the Kyrgyz Republic. 

The event was co-hosted by the Vice Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers, H.E. Mr. Edil Baisalov, the UN Resident Coordinator, Ms. Antje Grawe and the EU Ambassador and Head of Delegation, H.E. Ms. Marilyn Josefson and brought together representatives of State institutions, implementing partners, survivors of gender-based violence, civil society and development partners including UN agencies.  

The Spotlight Initiative is a global, multi-year partnership between the European Union and the United Nations to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls. Launched in 2020 in Kyrgyzstan, it represents an unprecedented national effort to address sexual and gender-based violence comprehensively across six interlinked pillars: policies and legislation; institutions; prevention; services; data, and women's movements and civil society organizations. 

The Spotlight Initiative is responding to all forms of violence against women and girls, with a particular focus on domestic and family violence, sexual harassment, sexual and gender-based violence and harmful practices such as bride abduction and child marriage. 

Over the three years of the initiative, significant results have been achieved in strengthening laws, policies, and institutions, prevention work, survivor-centric service provision, improving data and empowering women's movements.

With the technical support of the Spotlight Initiative, two fundamental strategies were adopted: the National Strategy for Achieving Gender Equality until 2030 and the National Action Plan 2022-2024. The Programme has also supported the Parliament in strengthening relevant legislation, in particular the Laws related to the detention of perpetrators, alimony, and State-guaranteed free legal aid, among others. The Programme has assisted in setting up temporary crisis centres and mobile groups during the COVID-19 pandemic and supported the launch of a free legal aid hotline (114) and other survivor-centric prevention and response initiatives. 

H.E. Edil Baisalov, Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic said on the occasion that the “Spotlight Initiative leaves its country-wide footprint that needs to be maintained and scaled up, collective efforts on legal and policy reform, transformative prevention, and provision of survivor-centric services should be continued alongside broader country to ensure gender equality and women empowerment.” 

Ms. Antje Grawe, UN Resident Coordinator in the Kyrgyz Republic commented on further plans for co-operation:

"The United Nations takes pride in collaborating closely with the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic, the EU, and other partners. Our joint efforts supported the Kyrgyz Government and society in tackling entrenched gender inequalities, strengthening policy frameworks, and establishing safe, empowering spaces for women and girls. As a multi-stakeholder program that harnesses the specialized skills of various UN agencies, the Spotlight Initiative serves as a powerful tool for strengthening UN development system reforms. The UN system stands ready to further build on the work done to effectively combat all forms of gender-based violence."

H.E. Marilyn Josefson, Ambassador of the European Union to Kyrgyzstan said: "Human rights and gender equality are at the heart of European Union’s external relations and development cooperation. 

Addressing the root causes that hinder gender equality is a key issue for all EU-funded and co-funded project worldwide. 

Therefore, the EU has invested EUR 500 million to support Spotlight Initiative at global scale, of which approximately USD 6.7 million was allocated to the programme in Kyrgyzstan. Over the past three years, the programme has achieved progress in all of its six founding pillar. Through its multidimensional activities, it has helped around 39,000 people in Kyrgystan, women and girls and men and boys to receive protection from violence and seek help. 

The legislative framework has been improved, the institutions for combating gender-based violence have been strengthened, violence prevention and norms change programmes have begun to operate, services for the victims are now more easily available and are more substantive. Data collection on incidences of gender violence is now more systematically recorded and is being published and women and civil society movements have been strengthened.

I am also pleased that the Spotlight Initiative programme has played a significant role in advancing the progress of the adoption of a new Gender Equality Strategy in Kyrgyzstan and supported the creation of the necessary means to ensure its implementation”.

The Spotlight Initiative brought together five UN agencies operating in the Kyrgyz Republic - the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN Women, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), as well as international donors and civil society organisations