The UN Resident Coordinator in Kyrgyzstan Antje Grawe raised concern that the draft laws on «Foreign Representatives», and the «Mass Media» risk to undermine the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Kyrgyzstan. She said this at the extended meeting with the Working Group on Monitoring the Implementation of Legislation on the SDGs in Kyrgyzstan.
As Antje Grawe noted, the achievement of the SDGs not only requires close consultations with civil society representatives to respond to the needs of society — it is also very much based on the role of civil society actors as implementing partners of the state and its development partners to deliver essential services to the people.
Civil society organizations’ ability to represent the broad and diverse elements of the people of Kyrgyzstan make them a unique and essential partner, particularly in reaching vulnerable groups.
«Limitations on civil society’s capacity to operate effectively may have a detrimental impact on the delivery of important development programs and the government’s ability to efficiently utilize nationally executed funds and international financing. It may also hinder the implementation of donor cooperation programmes with the Kyrgyz Republic, including in areas such as health care, education, social services and agriculture affecting climate change, where NGOs play a key role as implementing partners,» she stressed.
The UN Resident Coordinator urged the members of the Parliament of Kyrgyzstan to continue to engage in dialogue with all interested and concerned stakeholders, possibly also in the form of open public parliamentary hearings, to shape these and other legislative initiatives in a way that they can best serve the development hopes and aspirations of all Kyrgyz people and provide an enabling environment for the achievement of the SDGs.
