26 May 2015
Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights: Rupert Colville
Location:
Geneva
Subject:
Kyrgyzstan "foreign agents" draft law
The Kyrgyz parliament is scheduled to begin its first
reading tomorrow of a draft law on “foreign agents” which could negatively
affect the work of numerous civil society organisations working on human rights
and delivering services in Kyrgyzstan.
The draft law requires non-commercial organisations
established in the Kyrgyz Republic, involved in “political activities” and
receiving funding from foreign sources, to register as “foreign agents”.
It
fails to clearly define the term “political activities”, referring only to
“activities aimed at influencing the decisions of public authorities in order
to change their policy, as well as activities aimed at influencing the public
opinion for the above-mentioned purposes”.
This vague wording may put at risk numerous organisations
working to deliver services or conduct human rights advocacy. The draft law
requires that materials published by such organisations through the media and
the Internet state that they were published or distributed by a non-commercial
organisation acting as a “foreign agent”.
The term "foreign agent"
carries extremely negative connotations and could lead to stigmatization,
mistrust and hostility towards activists, human rights defenders and civil
society organizations.
The draft law also grants the Ministry of Justice the
power to conduct inspections, scheduled and unscheduled, of such organisations;
request and check internal documents; send representatives to participate in
internal activities; determine whether an organisation complies with the goals
of its creation; and, in case an organisation fails to file an application for
inclusion in the register of non-commercial organisations acting as a “foreign
agent”, to suspend their activities for up to six months without waiting for a
court decision.
If adopted, these new oversight powers would contradict the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Kyrgyzstan is a
party.
The draft law also provides for criminal liability and
imprisonment of up to three years for establishing a non-commercial
organisation whose work aims to “incite citizens to refuse to fulfill their
civic duties or commit other unlawful acts”.
This may lead to the
criminalisation of the work of human rights defenders. The terms “inciting” and
“propaganda acts” are ill-defined and broad, and may give rise to subjective
interpretation.
We call on the Government of Kyrgyzstan to ensure that
the freedoms of expression and association are protected in line with
international human rights law and standards. We urge a review of this draft
law to ensure that it does not restrict the important work of civil society
organisations in the country.
ENDS
For more information and media requests, please contact
please contact Rupert Colville (+41 22 917 9767 / rcolville@ohchr.org) or
Ravina Shamdasani (+41 22 917 9169 / rshamdasani@ohchr.org ) or Cécile Pouilly
(+41 22 917 9310 / cpouilly@ohchr.org).
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