The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kyrgyzstan has developed a new law against extremist activity. The draft was submitted for public discussion.
As the background statement says, the current law was adopted in August 2005 and has been amended several times. In addition, there have been significant changes in the country’s legislation, especially in the criminal, criminal procedural and criminal enforcement ones.
«Practical work of law enforcement agencies has revealed the need to legislate all actors countering extremist activity and to determine their main competencies in this area,» the background statement notes.
The main purpose of the draft law is to protect human rights and freedoms, the foundations of the constitutional system, territorial integrity and national security of Kyrgyzstan from extremist activities.
The main objectives of the document are definition and establishment of legal and organizational basis for countering extremist activity, improvement of interaction between subjects countering extremist activity.
«We observe the activity of destructive and extremist organizations pursuing political, economic, criminal and other interests and goals that threaten the security of the country and its citizens, up to undermining the foundations of the constitutional order. Destructive activities of religious organizations and individuals are carried out under the guise of charitable, educational or other socially significant actions and at a certain stage show no signs of extremism and violence, although they pose a threat to the life of individual citizens, society and the state as a whole,» the background statement reads.
Information and telecommunication networks, including the Internet, have become the main means of communication for extremist organizations. The network is used to attract new members to their ranks, to organize and commit crimes, to spread extremist ideology.
«There are more and more cases of attracting minors into the ranks of extremist organizations, since they are not only more susceptible to ideological and psychological influence, but also under certain circumstances are not subject to criminal liability. Many extremist organizations use the religious factor to attract new members to their ranks, incite and aggravate interethnic and interconfessional conflicts, which threaten the territorial integrity of the country. Serious concern is caused by the penetration from other states of persons trained in theological centers and preaching the exclusivity of radical religious movements and violent methods of their dissemination,» the document says.
The proposed wording of the draft introduces new concepts: extremism, extremist organization and prevention of extremism, which are taken as a basis from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s Convention on Countering Extremism. The main subjects and competences of state bodies in countering the extremist activity are determined.
The Internal Affairs Department of the Kyrgyz Republic was chosen as an authorized state body implementing the single state policy in the sphere of combating extremism.
The draft law envisages creation of Interdepartmental Commission on Counteracting Extremism under the Cabinet of Ministers in order to effectively organize cooperation and further improvement of activity of state bodies and local self-government bodies.
New mechanisms for prevention of extremist activity, procedure for recognition of public or religious association or organization as extremist were developed. The responsibility of mass media for dissemination of extremist materials and (or) implementation of extremist activities is also stipulated.
