On the occasion of the Independence Day of Kyrgyzstan, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), its Kyrgyz member organization, Bir Duino-Kyrgyzstan, and the Coalition for Equality reiterate their call to the Kyrgyz authorities to fully abide by their human rights obligations and to respect and restore civic space, allowing civil society to operate freely and safely. The appeal is published on the FIDH website.
Once known as the «island of democracy» in Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan has recently adopted a number of laws and practices severely curtailing civic space, including a Russia-style «foreign representatives» law, which drastically tightens control over foreign-funded human rights organizations, the statement says.
The human rights activists note that Kyrgyzstan became the first Central Asian State that accessed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), as well as six other key international human rights treaties. Re-elected as a member of the UN Human Rights Council in 2022 for the third time, Kyrgyzstan has accepted a special responsibility to «uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights».
«Yet, the human rights situation in Kyrgyzstan has deteriorated continuously over the recent months. In particular, on 2 April 2024, Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov signed the Russia-inspired «foreign representatives» law, which amends the existing «Law on Non-Commercial Organizations» and stigmatizes and severely tightens control over human rights organizations receiving foreign funding, allowing the authorities to suspend and the courts to ultimately liquidate organizations that do not comply with the requirements set out in the law,» the statement says.
Since the adoption of the «False Information» law in August 2021, the authorities have proceeded to silence independent media in the country, including by blocking the websites of Radio Azattyk and the leading investigative media outlet Kloop Media, which was subsequently liquidated by the authorities.
FIDH, Bir Duino and the Coalition for Equality urgently call on the Kyrgyz authorities to fully abide by their human rights obligations, and to respect and restore civic space in Kyrgyzstan, including by ensuring a fair and independent judicial review of the «foreign representatives» law. They also call on the international community to urge the Kyrgyz authorities, bilaterally and in multilateral fora, to repeal repressive legislation, such as the «foreign representatives» law, using all available political, diplomatic and economic means at their disposal.
