Civic Education on Ala Kachuu 

IFES-Kyrgyzstan, has designed a Civics Textbook and Course that is being pilot tested in schools throughout the Kyrgyz Republic using Interactive Classroom Management. Students in schools participating in the IFES civics course gain greater practical understanding of democracy and civic responsibility; interest in civics and democracy is enhanced.  Chapter 3, “Human Rights and International Law,” includes a section on Bride Kidnapping under the subject of “Human Rights in My Community.” 

The complete text book can be found on the IFES web-site:  www.ifescentralasia.kg 

The section on bride kidnapping is included below.

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Task 13            Human Rights in My Community             25 min 

(Part A):  The kidnapping of girls still occurs in Kyrgyz society and forced arranged marriages occur in others. In pairs read the opinions of students about this practice and then discuss and decide what you think. (Note that here that we are talking about the situation where there is no prior agreement or knowledge that the kidnapping will occur.) 

Ainura (Bishkek):  Kidnapping is an outdated custom, which only poor people practice. I think that it only occurs between people of the same social level. In other words a less educated boy from a poor family would never kidnap a well educated girl. Although I would never accept it if it happened to me, we must accept that this is one of our traditions and be patient with people who think like this. For this reason, I do not think it should be made illegal in our country. 

Manas (Ak Tala Rayon): What do you mean? It is already illegal in our national laws. Furthermore, our country is a signatory to the convention on human rights. Surely, no one can deny that if the girl is taken against her will there has been an abuse of her human rights. Personally, I think that if any boy has to kidnap a girl it shows that he does not respect her and is incapable of attracting a girl to marry him. I would also disagree with your statement that it only occurs between families of the same social status. I know of a case where a boy from the village kidnapped an educated girl. His family encouraged him to do it. 

Nurbek (Jalalbad) :  Yes, you speak of laws and logic but that is how things are in our society. Girls know that they take this risk if they associate with boys. In addition I think you forget that the boy and his family honour the girl and her family by kidnapping her. They are showing her that she is valued. I also think that some of the most successful marriages are the arranged ones. The great hero Manas – your namesake was an example of this. 

Bakai (Kerben) :  I think you are confusing the issue here. Nobody objects to an arranged marriage if the girl or boy have the final say and if the decision is not made under pressure. Remember that my namesake did not kidnap Kanykei for Manas he just went to see her family to negotiate on his behalf and her wishes were probably taken into account. I also think that the idea of honor is not as clear as you suggest. Surely it is the choice of the girl as to whether she is honoured or not. 

Altyn (Karakol) :  I agree with you about arranged marriages where the girl is asked. In the case of Manas and Kanykei they lived a happy life. The thing I really object to about this custom is that people try to justify it as fair because the girl can leave if she wants. That may be true in some circumstances but in most situations like this, the girl is under the social pressure to accept sometimes from her own family and the boy’s. If she doesn’t, other families will gossip about her and the reputation of the family will suffer. Furthermore, often uncles and aunts who personally have nothing to lose if she accepts, will pressure her to accept and in some cases will make the decision for her without asking her. If we follow the true tradition, the boy does not take the girl until he has her consent. 

Kenesh (Batken) : You seem to want to throw all our customs away! Where will our country be if we all start drinking Coca Cola and wearing jeans? We should remember that it wasn’t so long ago that in many European nations arranged marriages without consent, were not unusual. Although, I think that our society needs to find ways to reduce the social stigma attached to a girl rejecting a boy, I think we should be very careful before rejecting this custom. 

Alymbek  (Chon Alai) :  I agree with you but we need to think about a real contradiction in our culture here. Although traditionally kidnapping might possibly have been seen as honoring the girl and her family, the kidnapper today faces a problem. Our traditions also state that marriage is intended to be permanent. If the marriage starts off with one side obviously and grossly disrespecting the rights of another then how can we expect it to be permanent, unless the husband or the wife accepts the idea that they are less deserving of basic human rights. I also think we need to think why it is that arranged marriages without consent are now extremely rare in European countries. 

Anara (Chui) :  Although this should not be the deciding factor, we should wonder about the effect on our country when we tell foreigners about this custom and we are met with a deathly silence. This practice is nothing to be proud of, it is a distortion of a much more honorable tradition where consent is first gained. I also think we need to think about the boy’s rights here to. Often he is under great pressure to marry also. Our parents should not pressure either boys or girls in this way. If kidnapping is going to be done with the consent of the girl then I have no problem with this, and in fact if done like this then it is a good thing. 

(Part B) :  Look in the Constitution and decide what articles would prohibit kidnapping. 

(Part C) : In pairs discuss this question.  “The lack of rights to personal choice is a key issue with kidnapping. How does this relate to democracy and voting?”