Caravanserai
Youth

Worries grow over the radicalisation of children in Kyrgyzstan

By Sanzhar Sharipov

Children ride a swing in Bishkek. Kyrgyz authorities are stepping up their efforts to keep children and adolescents free of extremist influence. [Vyacheslav Oseledko/AFP]

Children ride a swing in Bishkek. Kyrgyz authorities are stepping up their efforts to keep children and adolescents free of extremist influence. [Vyacheslav Oseledko/AFP]

OSH -- Kyrgyz authorities are warning of extremist efforts to turn children into budding militants.

The extremists often engage their own children in terrorist activities, keep them out of public school and force them to attend unlicenced seminaries, security officials and teachers warn.

Shipped off to Syria

In one notable case of multi-generational extremism, authorities in Issyk-Kul Province this year learned of one family of 20 members that went to Syria to fight alongside militants, Interfax reported December 9.

Schoolchildren, regardless of age, "are encountering pressure from relatives who use them for extremist activity", Osh lawyer Orunbek Samidinov told Caravanserai.

Children might not realise that trusted adults are using them, he said.

If such misguided children "are not stopped in time, they will perceive their actions as the right thing to do", Samidinov said.

"Children and teenagers are not to blame ... if their mothers or fathers support banned organisations," Gulmira Kalmatova, a Bishkek resident, told Caravanserai. "Instead of going to school, they commit crimes on their parents' orders. They don't realise that the law holds them responsible for their acts starting at age 14."

Such adults are brainwashing these children, she said, citing those children who distribute extremist leaflets or extremist electronic materials.

A radicalised woman can serve as a force multiplier for extremists "because she drags her children and whole family into it", Jamal Frontbek Kyzy, leader of the Kyrgyz NGO Mutakallim, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)'s Kyrgyz service in November.

Educators seek 'harsh penalties' for adults

Children are one of the most vulnerable groups in society, Bishkek high school teacher Samara Parkhanova told Caravanserai, citing adults' ability to manipulate impressionable children.

"Adults who expose their children, or relatives who are minors, to extremism should suffer harsh penalties," she said. "We see when children in the Middle East become human shields or 'martyrs' [suicide bombers]. We need to suppress this evil ... by tightening the laws."

Children involved in extremist groups could become terrorists later, she said, urging the government to pay greater attention to this issue.

To confront the problem, officials and active citizens are holding public meetings. Such events took place in Osh on November 21 and in Lebedinovka village, Chui Province, on November 15.

"Teenagers always want to make a splash among their peers ... so they follow orders from their elders [criminals whom they might know and older schoolchildren] and expose themselves to danger and prosecution," Samat Mamyshev, a local police investigator, said during the Lebedinovka meeting.

Theologians warn about possible threats

"It is personally painful for me to see the children of those families whose members are on the police watchlist [of suspected militants]," Bishkek theologian Kalyskan Bedelbayeva told Caravanserai, saying that such children seldom attend public school. "It's unclear what they do all day in seminaries that don't have a licence to give teenagers a religious education."

Authorities have their doubts about the quality of education inside Kyrgyzstan's madrassas. The government was planning in 2016 to strip 92% of the country's madrassa principals of teaching licences because they lacked diplomas "for university-level religious studies", RFE/RL reported in February.

Bedelbayeva favours more oversight by local authorities of seminaries and of mosques that schoolchildren attend after classes.

Community elders' councils and women's and youth committees should step up their oversight, she said.

"Extremists are always looking for openings," she said. "We are losing the younger generation ... I am afraid to predict what will come next."

Bedelbayeva noted how Kyrgyzstan's ranking on the annual Global Terrorism Index slipped between 2015 and 2016. It finished 84th this year, compared to 86th in 2015. In the survey, compiled by the Sydney-based Institute for Economics and Peace, the first-place country (Iran this year) is the one most affected by terrorism.

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