A/HRC/45/2 medical care and left him to die in custody in July 2020. It asserted that the Kyrgyzstan Government had ignored its international human rights obligations and bore responsibility for his death. It called on Kyrgyzstan to ensure an independent investigation into his imprisonment and death, and provide remedy. Human Rights Watch stated that, although Kyrgyzstan supported recommendations combatting violence against women, impunity was still the norm, and the authorities should enforce relevant legislation and hold perpetrators accountable. It noted worrying developments on freedom of speech and non-governmental organizations. Kyrgyzstan should ensure that journalists and activists could work without retaliation by the authorities. Human Rights Watch was disappointed that Kyrgyzstan did not support the recommendation to ensure the primacy of international human rights law over domestic law, and recommended the withdrawal of a bill before Parliament removing the obligation for courts to reconsider criminal cases in which an international human rights body had found a violation. 416. United Nations Watch (by video message) expressed that it was wary that out of the 89 country statements in the report of the universal periodic review, no less than 78 praised the Government’s human rights record. It questioned the claim by Kyrgyzstan that it was attempting to form a trilingual generation of citizens and preserve the native language of ethnic communities, given that it mandated high school examinations to be in Kyrgyz or Russian languages and the drop in the number of Uzbek schools. United Nations Watch was concerned with the use of vague counter terrorism laws to block internet access and shut down independent news agencies. It queried: if the new Code of Criminal Procedure had established that evidence obtained through torture was inadmissible, why had the Kyrgyzstan Supreme Court in May upheld the sentence against Azimjan Askarov, when the United Nations Human Rights Committee had found that he had been tortured? It asked whether Kyrgyzstan in the future would release others convicted through the use of torture, and if the report accurately reflected the situation on the ground. 417. The International Fellowship of Reconciliation urged further action on the right to conscientious objection to military service and stated, that while Kyrgyzstan’s military service of 12 months was obligatory for males, only limited conscientious objection provisions had been introduced by a 1994 law on alternative service. It indicated that the United Nations Human Rights Committee had noted that conscientious objection to military service was allowed only to members of registered religious organization whose teachings prohibited the use of arms. Kyrgyzstan had not justified why the provision on alternative service had entailed a period of service twice as long as that required of military conscripts and why persons of higher education served for a considerably shorter period. The Committee had recommended that conscientious objection be provided for in law in a manner consistent with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The International Fellowship of Reconciliation also expressed concern about the provision permitting the buying out of military service. Action Canada for Population and Development (by video message) welcomed the many recommendations adopted by Kyrgyzstan but stressed its concern by the absence of attention given to the human rights of sex workers. It stated that even in the absence of a legislative ban, the police acted as though sex work had been criminalized, and sex workers were systemically detained arbitrarily, accompanied by humiliation, extortion and other forms of violence. It noted that new legislation had made the plight of sex workers worse and police had begun to extort more money from this group. It asserted that sex workers were stigmatized, had insufficient access to sexual reproductive health care services, and conditions had become more difficult due to the COVID-19 crisis, as they were unable to work and the State had not provided financial assistance. It urged Kyrgyzstan to review all existing standards that impact on the right of sex workers; establish a violence monitoring mechanism against the police with respect to sex workers; ensure access to sexual and reproductive medical services; and expand social protection for sex workers. 76