On April 2, the country’s president announced on social media the signing of the Law «On Amendments to the Law «On Non-Profit Organizations» and promised that there would be no persecution. However, Sadyr Japarov’s comment caused criticism among representatives of NGOs and the civil sector. They believe that the words that non-governmental organizations working in the country for 30 years were not registered anywhere or reported to anyone are untrue.
The head of state again commented on the document and his previously expressed opinion.
According to Sadyr Japarov, «it is individual representatives of these non-governmental organizations that distort information.»
«The draft law on amendments to the Law «On Non-Profit Organizations» has been discussed for several months. It was said then that one of the main goals of its adoption was to re-register non-governmental organizations financed from abroad and give them the status of «foreign representative».
It was also said that the state should know on what specific purposes the funds received from outside are spent. My words posted on social media were spoken precisely in this context.
All non-governmental organizations understood this very well. And then with a smile they say «we are registered.» Tell me, who is registered as a «foreign representative»? None of them was registered in this way. That’s what I meant.
According to the Ministry of Justice, about 25,000 non-governmental organizations are registered, of which about 2,000 operate at the expense of the funds received from foreign donors and their participation. They will undergo re-registration procedure. There will be a separate register for «foreign representatives». That’s all. They will continue to work as they have worked until today. I guarantee that there will be no persecution,» he said.
Sadyr Japarov again assured that «we are not going to persecute them.»
«We just need to ensure openness. We want people to know who is being financed from abroad. We also ensure that they operate in accordance with their charter. What’s bad about it? Transparency should not be taken to mean that the government is interested in their funds. If they receive grants from other countries, why should we count their money? Let them receive not millions, but billions. We just need to know their purpose,» he added.
The President also explained his previously voiced opinion.
«When I said about the mess (eshek jailoo), it turnув out that they (NGOs. — Note of 24.kg news agency) were greatly offended. If millions of dollars are coming into the country and we cannot understand on what purposes they are being spent, isn’t this a mess? Our only intention is to ensure that some of this money is not used to interfere in our internal affairs. If there are non-profit organizations that want to get involved in politics, then they should join a party or create a new party. And let them continue to work. Nobody forbids them to do this.
The law has been passed. It is necessary to work according to new rules. This is not a problem for non-governmental organizations. Not only me, but also authoritative experts say that there are similar laws in other countries, even in those Western countries that representatives of non-governmental organizations use as an example for us. If they don’t believe them, let them look on the Internet,» he concluded.
