Climate Displacement and Human Rights in Southern Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

This field-based study offers a rights-based assessment of the 2024 floods in Osh oblast, with field research in Nookat and Kara-Suu districts (Kyrgyzstan) across five rural villages: Kok Zhar, Gulistan, Mady Kyrgyz-Chek, Datka, and Bash Bulak. Based on interviews, observational data, and Ministry of Emergency Situations statistics (339 flood/mudflow events in 2024, 91 in Osh), it documents violations of rights to housing, water, health, mental well-being, and participation—including inadequate compensation, disrupted potable water, widespread psychosocial trauma, debris-blocked mobility, and exclusion of marginalized groups like children, elderly, and farmers from disaster preparedness and response processes. As Central Asia's third most climate-vulnerable country, facing a temperature rise from 4.8°C to 6°C over two decades, intensified glacier melt, extreme precipitation, and hazards costing 0.5-1.3% of GDP annually (World Bank, 2023), the analysis integrates ICESCR, ICCPR, and CRC obligations. It proposes policy recommendations for participatory, child-sensitive, rights-based disaster planning, enhanced early warnings, inclusive recovery, and regional cooperation to build resilience against floods, mudflows, landslides, and GLOFs.