Adinai is a resident of the city of Aydarken in far-away Batken province. Her marriage didn’t go well, and she broke up with her husband in 2007 who left her with a two-year-old. After the divorce, her ex-spouse moved to the Chui province, and Adinai raised the child alone without any support from him. Since 2016, she completely lost any communication with her daughter’s father, as he changed his address and contact numbers.

“He never paid alimony. I have never applied for legal assistance before, because there were no free legal services in Aydarken, it would be very expensive for me to hire a private lawyer,” Adinai says.

On February 28th, that little girl, who was abandoned with her mother, turned 16. Now she is entitled to apply for a Kyrgyz Republic passport just like her peers. everything Seems simple, however, according to the legislation of our country, upon the initial receipt of a passport, an applicant’s both parents are required to submit copies of their passports for processing their child’s document.

“I could not contact my ex-husband to get a copy of his passport. His whereabouts are unknown, since he no longer communicates with our daughter and does not support financially. As a result, my daughter has not yet been able to apply for a passport,” the woman provides.

According to her, this is not the first time they have faced the problem of obtaining a passport for her daughter. Her daughter is studying well at school and she is a promising volleyball player taking first prizes in local competitions. Last year, she was invited to take part in an international tournament in the neighboring country but was unable to cross the Kyrgyzstan border because she had no father's consent to leave the country (as she was under 18) and therefore didn’t have an international passport.

“Sometimes we come across quite complicated stories in our practice. Adinai turned to us with a request to assist in obtaining her daughter's passport, as well as to represent her interests in court for the recovery of alimony. We turned to the passport office of Aydarken to request information on the whereabouts of her father. It turned out that he changed his last name, which was recorded in his daughter's birth certificate, and the public agency had no records in its database on the grounds for him to change it. It was the reason why the passport office refused to accept the girl's application for a passport. Thus, a copy of the father's new passport and a certificate of the change of his last name were essential to complete the girl’s application for a passport,” - explains Ms. Dinara Jusubalieva, the lawyer of the Free Legal Aid Center in Aydarken.

“Within a week, the lawyer formed documents for the recovery of alimony from my ex-husband, and we applied to the district court. The lawyer, as a person representing my interests, sent a request through the state registration office of the Kadamjai district to the state registration branch offices in the Jayil and Panfilov districts. After a short while, the registry office informed the lawyer about a response with the necessary acts reporting the last name changes made by my ex-husband. We didn’t know where and how to apply ever before, and now with the help of the lawyer, our issue took a quick start. Now this is about being aware of your rights and knowing exactly where and how to apply. It encouraged me to move on,” Adinai goes.

After receiving the required records on the change of the name of the debtor, the lawyer applied for the issuance of a court order on the recovery of alimony. This decision was sent to the Panfilov District Court’s Bailiffs Service for the enforcement proceedings. The bailiff under the law of the Kyrgyz Republic "On the status of bailiffs and on court-decision enforcement" would collect alimony from the debtor in favor of the child. In addition, bailiffs would receive copies of his passport and a certificate of change of the debtor's last name.

“I am so happy that this story with the passport will end soon and my daughter will be able to get a passport alongside her classmates and use the full range of public and municipal, including medical, services, will participate in Olympiads, and will get a chance to express herself and shine! I hope she will have a better life than mine is!” the mother says.

We hope so too!

UNDP has been cooperating with the Ministry of Justice of the Kyrgyz Republic for more than 20 years, and the partnership had resulted in adopting a law on free legal aid, legal support for thousands of people living in remote and rural areas, the establishment of 27 Free Legal Aid Centers in the cities and villages of Kyrgyzstan. UNDP provided financial support to 13 of these centers. In addition, since last year, as part of the multi-sectoral support to the Kyrgyz Government in response to COVID-19, UNDP launched the activities to improve access to legal aid and information in the pilot remote border communities with the financial support of the Government of Japan. In partnership with the Nonprofit Association "Lawyers of the Fergana Valley without Borders", UNDP provides legal assistance to citizens in 6 pilot communities, meeting the COVID-19 epidemic standards. Free legal assistance includes advice on legal issues, as well as assistance in the preparation of statements of claim to courts, appeals, and complaints to public authorities.

The story of Adinai is one of a few that lawyers come across daily, working in the regions of the country, where, as practice shows, qualified legal advice is in great demand.