Kanatbek Niyaz uulu

Kanatbek Niyaz uulu (born 1950; recorded in Soviet documents as Kanatbek Niyazov) is a customary-law judge who presides over hearings under adat in the high valleys of the Chatkal range, in the Autonomous Tribal Regions.^[1]

Clan councils in the Chatkal Highlands refer disputes over livestock, pasture boundaries and grazing rotations to him. He also sits as one of the elders of the Autonomous Tribal Grazing Arbitration Tribunal. His judgments are given orally and usually order restitution in livestock (kun) rather than punishment. In 2016 he settled a dispute between two clans over shared summer pastures with a rotation agreement that both clan councils accepted.^[1] Human rights organizations have criticized the adat system in which he works, noting that women have limited standing before clan councils and that there is no appeal beyond the clan assembly.^[2]

References

1. ^ Talas State University Press (2019). Adat in Practice: Customary Courts of the Chatkal Highlands, pp. 61–83.
2. ^ Human Rights Watch (2022). Judicial Dualism in Irad: Customary Law and Rights in the Autonomous Tribal Regions. New York.