Kyrgyzstan: NGOs Urge President To Return Draft Laws That Threaten Human Rights – OpEd
By IPHR
Together with several other human rights organisations, International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) has issued two appeals urging Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov not to sign two draft laws recently passed by Parliament that pose serious threats to human rights protection in the country.
The first appeal, signed by Araminta, the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), IPHR, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC), Freedom for Eurasia (FfE), Physicians for Human Rights, and Amnesty International, expresses deep alarm at the 25 June decision by Kyrgyzstan’s Parliament to dissolve the National Centre for the Prevention of Torture (NCPT) — an independent body mandated to monitor detention facilities and prevent torture in line with Kyrgyzstan’s obligations under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT).
Provisions to liquidate the NCPT were added to a draft law on the Ombudsperson’s Office at the final stage of its consideration, without adequate consultation or transparency. This move threatens to dismantle an internationally recognised mechanism that has effectively uncovered abuses, improved detention conditions, and provided vital independent oversight for over a decade. While the NCPT’s responsibilities would be transferred to the Ombudsperson’s Office, it is unclear how this institution would fulfil this function, raising serious concerns that torture prevention could become sidelined and diluted. The NGO signatories urge President Japarov to use his constitutional power to return the draft law for revision and broad consultation, to safeguard Kyrgyzstan’s hard-won progress in preventing torture and protecting detainees’ rights.
The second appeal, signed by Civil Rights Defenders, Freedom for Eurasia, Human Rights Watch, Araminta, IPHR, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Freedom Now, as well as the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, urges President Japarov to return a restrictive draft media law to Parliament for revision and proper consultation with civil society and media stakeholders. The draft law, approved by Parliament in a combined second and third reading on 26 June, grants the authorities sweeping powers to deny media outlets registration, obstruct their work, and close them down without judicial oversight. It differs substantially from an earlier compromise version developed in consultation with the media community and reintroduces problematic provisions that had previously been excluded.
The NGO signatories also raise alarm about other recent developments further undermining freedom of expression and media in Kyrgyzstan. These include the 3 July conviction of journalist Kanyshai Mamyrkulova, who received four years’ probation for allegedly calling for mass riots and inciting hatred in Facebook posts critical of the government’s lack of transparency over a border demarcation deal with Tajikistan.
Although released, she now faces restrictions on her movement as well as on what she can write or publish online, with violations risking the cancellation of her conditional release. In another worrying case, prosecutors are seeking to halt the independent broadcaster April TV’s activities on social media and revoke its broadcasting license, accusing it of “undermining the authorities” by expressing disapproval through speech, sarcasm, and facial expressions. On 1 July, at least seven current or former April TV journalists were summoned for interrogation on unclear grounds. The NGOs call on the president to use his constitutional powers to help ensure charges against Mamyrkulova and April TV are dropped and to protect freedom of expression in the country.
