The authorities of Kyrgyzstan intensified their campaign to stifle all forms of public criticism and
peaceful dissent. The annual report of the international human rights organization Amnesty International «The State of the World’s Human Rights,» which assesses the situation in this area in 155 countries and territories, including Kyrgyzstan, for 2023, says.
As noted, journalists and activists critical of the government faced arbitrary detention, unfounded prosecutions, and unfair trials. Some activists were held in conditions amounting to torture or other ill treatment. Peaceful demonstrators faced serious restrictions.
The human rights activists cited the bill «On the Mass Media,» the authorities’ use of the Law «On Protection from Unreliable (False) Information» for new restrictions on media activities, the blocking of the website and the liquidation of one of the legal entities of Kloop Media, as well as a ban on rallies as examples.
«Legislative initiatives endorsing cultural traditions and regulating NGOs unduly restricted the rights to freedom of expression and association and threatened to stifle the previously vibrant civil society,» the report says.
As noted, women and girls with disabilities faced a higher risk of sexual violence and lacked effective access to justice. They experienced intersectional discrimination based on both gender and disability.
In general, in its report Amnesty International sounds alarm on a watershed moment for international law amid flagrant rule-breaking by governments and corporate actors. Powerful governments cast humanity into an era devoid of effective international rule of law, with civilians in conflicts paying the highest price.
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«Amnesty International’s report paints a dismal picture of alarming human rights repression and prolific international rule-breaking, all in the midst of deepening global inequality, superpowers vying for supremacy and an escalating climate crisis,» said Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard.
