«The European Union will closely monitor the adoption of draft laws on media and NGOs in Kyrgyzstan,» David McAllister, Chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, representative of the Christian Democrats party and Chairman of the European Parliament’s mission to Bishkek, said at a briefing.
Respect for human rights is the basis of all EU activities, he said. As a long-time partner of Kyrgyzstan, the EU expects that human rights and fundamental freedoms will always be respected in the republic. The EU will ensure that all countries adhere to the principles of respect for human rights and respect for fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression and the media.
«We will monitor the progress in the draft laws on media and NGOs. We talked about this with the Kyrgyzstan’s authorities in the framework of the dialogue on the adopted resolution of the European Parliament. An exchange of views with civil society on this issue took place. We received very good additional impressions, opinions and arguments. We also talked about this with representatives of the Parliament and the President of the country. We came to the opinion that we will not discuss this issue in detail on public platforms for the time being. But we will all closely follow the fate of the draft laws on media and NGOs,» David McAllister said.
«The European Parliament adopted the extraordinary resolution at the plenary session in July to draw attention to the existing problem of human rights violations. And it must be addressed. The issues concerning media freedom are of great importance to us. The resolution is known. Its details have been communicated to the state bodies of Kyrgyzstan. We have discussed this issue, and I have received a response. The resolution will be considered at our further meetings,» he concluded.
Recall, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on Kyrgyzstan in July.
The document notes that democratic standards and human rights in the country have «alarmingly deteriorated» in recent years. The Reporters Without Borders’ index for 2023 shows that the republic has dropped 50 positions down to 122nd place out of 180 countries.
The European Parliament called on the Kyrgyzstan’s authorities to respect and uphold fundamental freedoms, including freedom of the media and freedom of expression, in line with the EU — Kyrgyzstan Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement.
