MINORITY LANGUAGE RIGHTS IN KYRGYZSTAN AND THE STRUCTURAL BARRIERS FACED BY THE UZBEK MINORITY

This thesis explores the status of minority language rights in Kyrgyzstan through the viewpoint of the Uzbek minority, the country's largest ethnic minority group. Language rights are critical to the attainment of equality, inclusion, and the intersectional nature of it makes these rights even more crucial. However, implementation frequently reveals a disconnection between international commitments and national practice. Despite Kyrgyzstan's constitutional guarantees of equality and its ratification of international instruments such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Uzbek minority continues to face systemic language rights barriers in education, media representation, and political participation. The research is guided by two questions: first, how do international and regional minority rights frameworks on language rights apply to the case of the Uzbek minority in Kyrgyzstan, and to what extent are these standards reflected in national law and practice? Second, what structural, legal, and sociopolitical factors have shaped the status of the Uzbek minority in the spheres of education, media, and political participation, and how do these factors affect their social integration and cultural visibility? The thesis argues that the disparity between normative frameworks and lived realities hinders minority participation and enjoyment og human rights, emphasizing the critical need for reforms that bring Kyrgyzstan's policies in line with international standards.