Bermet Borubaeva

Bermet Borubaeva is a Kyrgyzstani human rights activist and artist. She is known for her campaigning on environmental issues, notably founding the #BishkekSmog initiative to address the issue of air pollution in Bishkek, and often incorporates her activism into her art.

Early life and education Borubaeva was born and raised in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan; her father, Termikul Borubaev, worked as a mechanic, while her mother, Gulsina Borubaeva, worked at a salon. Borubaeva studied history for a year at the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University, before changing her degree and graduating with a bachelor's degree in political science; she went on to study for a master's degree in public policy. Borubaeva subsequently studied at the School of Contemporary Art "Art East", graduating in 2009, before moving to Moscow, Russia, to study at the First Moscow Curatorial Summer School under Viktor Misiano and the V-A-C Foundation. Borubaeva has completed residencies at different institutions, including the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago, United States; the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, Poland; the Kunstraum Dreiviertel in Bern, Switzerland; and the Vadim Sidur Museum in Moscow. In 2011, she curated the educational programme for the Bishkek presentation that was displayed at the Lingua Franca exhibition at the Central Asian Pavilion during the 54th Venice Biennale in Venice, Italy.

Borubaeva has criticised the Kyrgyz government's repression of dissent following the passing of a law in 2022 that temporarily imposed a court-sanctioned ban on protests being held in many public places, including government buildings, that had been routinely extended by the government. In December 2025, Borubaeva and fellow activist Tolekan Ismailova filed a petition with the Constitutional Court, requesting that it declare provisions that permitted local governments to restrict the time, location and route of rallies and protests as "unconstitutional".

At 10:00 KGT on 13 March 2026, Borubaeva and Ismailova, alongside filmmaker Bulat Satarkulov, were arrested in Bishkek while travelling to a planned peaceful protest in the Pervomaiskii district against the government's ban on freedom of assembly with signs reading "Right to Peaceful Assembly" . Borubaeva was arrested despite it being alleged that the Kyrgyz authorities only had summons papers for Ismailova. After being detained for six hours at the Main Department of Internal Affairs of Bishkek, all three were released.

The Ireland-based human rights organisation Front Line Defenders condemned the arrests of Borubaeva and Ismailova, describing them as a "reprisal for their non-violent and legitimate human rights work".

Recognition In 2022, Borubaeva was awarded the Prince Claus Fund in recognition of "standing up for the environment through artistic research".