Bekeshev, Dastan Dalabayevich

He completely lost his sight at the age of 6 years ^[3] . He studied at a specialized boarding school for blind and visually impaired children [1] . Bekeshev has two brothers and a sister [2] . Married, has a daughter .

After graduating from the Boris Yeltsin Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University with a degree in law, Dastan Bekeshev began his career in 2006 at the State Tax Service in the Pervomaisky district of Bishkek . In 2007-2010, he worked at the Ministry of Economy of Kyrgyzstan [3] .

In 2010, he joined the Ar-Namys political party, according to the list of which he was elected as a deputy of the Kyrgyz parliament - the Jogorku Kenesh [4] . In 2014, for ideological reasons, he left the Ar-Namys party and, together with like-minded people, founded the Ak-Niet political party (Pure Thoughts) [5] . In 2015, Bekeshev resigned as the leader of the Ak-Niet party and from the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan was re-elected ^[4] to the Jogorku Kenesh.

Legislation

Dastan Bekeshev is the author of many bills, including stricter regulation of the activities of law enforcement agencies [6] , pawnshop [7] and betting [8] , taxation of tobacco products, and toughening responsibility for traffic violations [9] , implementation in practice of consideration of citizens' electronic public authorities and local self-government [10] , on the declassification of the general plans of cities and villages [11] , the introduction of community service as punishment for the adminis istrativnye offense [12] .

Activities to protect the rights of people with disabilities

A special place in Bekeshev’s work is the protection of the rights and guarantees of people with disabilities .

Due to the responsiveness of some compatriots [Kyrgyz], funds were raised and the first literature published in the Kyrgyz language, in Braille. The Kyrgyz Society for the Blind and Deaf was fully equipped with computers, and free computer literacy courses are also held there. For the first time in Kyrgyzstan, the project “Traffic Lights for the Blind” is being implemented. I hope he will be successful. However, everything can go down the drain if the city hall is indifferent, and the traffic police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs tries to make money on this project. As a rule, government agencies do not want to help. Everyone is indifferent to these problems [13] (inaccessible link) .

Bekeshev initiated a series of bills aimed at more effective protection of the rights of people with disabilities, some of which have already been adopted. In 2011, the Parliament adopted amendments to the Law “On Television and Radio Broadcasting”, according to which a mandatory requirement is introduced for the presence of subtitles or sign language interpretation in information broadcasts that are broadcast on the three main television channels of Kyrgyzstan [14] . Bekeshev himself noted that not all his initiatives find support from his parliamentary colleagues, but he intends to further protect the rights of people with disabilities.

Together with other deputies, we have amended the law "On Education", due to which quotas are fixed for students with disabilities to enter universities. At my suggestion, the law on the election of the President and Deputies of the Jogorku Kenesh includes rules according to which, when determining the list of candidates, a political party must take into account the representation of at least 2 candidates - persons with disabilities, while one of them should be included in the list of the first 50 candidates , and voting facilities should be accessible to voters with disabilities.

On my initiative, in 2011 a parliamentary decree "On the implementation of the laws on the rights of persons with disabilities" was adopted. Not all of its norms are implemented as they should, but I will persistently and persistently seek its full implementation. Unfortunately, my colleagues did not support my bill aimed at more efficient job creation for people with disabilities using the funds collected in a specialized fund, instead of not quite effective quotas for such workers stipulated by law. [15]

With the support of Dastan Bekeshev, a number of social projects aimed at supporting people with disabilities have been or are being implemented:

- equipping the regional cells of the Kyrgyz society of the blind and deaf with computer equipment [16] ;

- installation of sound accompaniment devices for blind pedestrians at a number of intersections in Bishkek [17] (inaccessible link) ;

- the social center “Equal Opportunities”, in which people with disabilities are taught computer literacy, orienteering with a cane and GPS-navigators for free, provide assistance in finding employment [18] ;

- construction of an apartment building for the visually and hearing-impaired in Bishkek ^[5] .

Transparency and Accountability Policy

Dastan Bekeshev emphasizes three principles that, in his opinion, should determine the activities of state bodies - decency, transparency and accountability. To this end, he put forward a number of initiatives aimed at ensuring transparency in the work of government. In particular, at his suggestion, a law was passed requiring the posting of video recordings of meetings of the Government of Kyrgyzstan on the Internet. Bekeshev also proposed creating a database of court decisions of the Supreme Court, city and regional courts, and then local courts [19] .

Bekeshev periodically posts videos from parliamentary meetings and his reports to citizens on his channel on the YouTube Internet service [20] . On his initiative, since 2011, excursions have been held in the Jogorku Kenesh for schoolchildren and students who are able to attend parliamentary meetings and get acquainted with the work of deputies [21] [22] (inaccessible link) (inaccessible link) .

• Dastan Bekeshev is a candidate for master of sports in chess . He believes that it is necessary to open chess clubs in schools, as “this will bring considerable benefits, because the game of chess develops memory, logic and analytical thinking, which is important for the future of children” [23] .
• I brought the idea of ​​conducting tours for citizens in parliament from the United States , where I attended Congress and met with a number of congressmen.
• Bekeshev has profiles on the most popular social networks - Facebook [24] , Twitter [25] , the Kyrgyz forum “Diesel” [26] , through which he personally communicates with citizens on a regular basis.
• Thanks to Bekeshev, in 2015, specialized schools for blind and visually impaired children in Kyrgyzstan for the first time since the early 1990s received special textbooks typed in Braille and large print ^[6] .

• Official site of Dastan Bekeshev
• Official website of the Jogorku Kenesh (Parliament) of Kyrgyzstan