EU — Council conclusions on Kyrgyzstan 3029th FOREIGN AFFAIRS Council meeting

Brus­sels, 26 July 2010
The Coun­cil adopt­ed the fol­low­ing con­clu­sions:
“1. The Coun­cil wel­comes the over­all suc­cess­ful con­duct of the Con­sti­tu­tion­al ref­er­en­dum in Kyr­gyzs­tan, which is an impor­tant step in the ongo­ing process aim­ing at the estab­lish­ment of a demo­c­ra­t­ic insti­tu­tion­al frame­work and the rule of law in the coun­try. The Coun­cil invites the Kyr­gyz author­i­ties to ful­ly imple­ment the rec­om­men­da­tions made by the OSCE/ODIHR in view of the par­lia­men­tary elec­tions to take place in autumn. The EU con­tin­ues to stand ready to assist Kyr­gyzs­tan in this process.

2. In that con­text, the Coun­cil invites the Com­mis­sion to con­tin­ue pro­vid­ing assis­tance, includ­ing new assis­tance pro­grammes, to the Kyr­gyz author­i­ties in the imple­men­ta­tion of their reform pro­gramme and to con­tribute to sus­tain­able eco­nom­ic and social devel­op­ment of the coun­try. The Coun­cil wel­comes the hold­ing of the Devel­op­ment Forum (Donors’ Con­fer­ence) to be organ­ised by the World Bank on 27 of July in Bishkek.

3. The Coun­cil remains, nonethe­less, con­cerned by the frag­ile secu­ri­ty sit­u­a­tion in the coun­try and reports of con­tin­u­ing abus­es against human rights defend­ers and per­sons belong­ing to the Uzbek minor­i­ty. The Coun­cil urges the Kyr­gyz author­i­ties to take all pos­si­ble mea­sures to pro­tect its pop­u­la­tion from dis­crim­i­na­tion and vio­lence, to encour­age inter-eth­nic rec­on­cil­i­a­tion, and to strict­ly uphold the rule of law and respect for human rights through­out the coun­try. In this regard, the Coun­cil wel­comes the recent agree­ment on prin­ci­ples and modal­i­ties for an OSCE Police Advi­so­ry Group that is to be sent to Kyrgyzstan. 

4. The Coun­cil is con­cerned by the fate of returnees and inter­nal­ly dis­placed per­sons and calls on the Kyr­gyz author­i­ties, with the assis­tance of the inter­na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty, to address their needs, in par­tic­u­lar those relat­ed to reha­bil­i­ta­tion and recon­struc­tion, and to ensure their pro­tec­tion. In this regard, the Coun­cil wel­comes the human­i­tar­i­an aid already being pro­vid­ed by the Com­mis­sion, Mem­ber States and oth­er inter­na­tion­al actors.

5. Estab­lish­ing the facts behind the recent vio­lent events in South­ern Kyr­gyzs­tan con­sti­tutes an essen­tial pre­req­ui­site for ensur­ing account­abil­i­ty, peace and inter-eth­nic rec­on­cil­i­a­tion. The Coun­cil notes the ini­tia­tive of the Kyr­gyz lead­er­ship to con­duct an enquiry into these events. The Coun­cil calls on the Kyr­gyz author­i­ties to ensure that the enquiry is con­duct­ed in an impar­tial, trans­par­ent and com­pre­hen­sive man­ner, and in line with inter­na­tion­al stan­dards. Fur­ther­more, the EU stands ready to sup­port the estab­lish­ment of an inde­pen­dent inter­na­tion­al enquiry to com­ple­ment the efforts of the Kyr­gyz author­i­ties, and which would enjoy full access to wit­ness­es and mate­r­i­al evi­dence in rela­tion to the June events.

6. The EU will con­tin­ue to fol­low the sit­u­a­tion in Kyr­gyzs­tan close­ly and to coor­di­nate its actions with the OSCE, the UN and oth­er rel­e­vant inter­na­tion­al organ­i­sa­tions and actors.” 

Source:
Coun­cil of the Euro­pean Union 

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