On March 2, 2010, the Constitutional Court of Kyrgyzstan declared several provisions of the current Law on public assemblies unconstitutional whose application restricted the exercise of the right to freedom of assembly. Pursuant to said provisions, those wishing to organise peaceful assemblies, meetings and demonstrations had to request permission from the authorities 12 days in advance and local authorities were competent to fix places where peaceful meetings could be held[1].
This ruling followed the complaint lodged on December 14, 2009 before the Constitutional Court by several human rights defenders alleging that their constitutional rights to participate to peaceful assemblies had been violated. Those defenders included Ms. Tolekan Ismailova, Director of the Human Rights Centre “Citizens Against Corruption” (CAC), Ms. Aida Baydzhumanova, Ms. Diana Makenbaeva and Ms. Evgenia Krapivina, from CAC, Ms. Erkingul Imankozhoeva, a member of “Karek”, and Mr. Timur Shaikhutdinov, Coordinator of the Council for the Defense of Youths’ Rights at the Ombudsman Office. They had been arrested while participating on July 25, 2009 in a peaceful action held in Bishkek to call for the respect of their constitutional rights of citizens to peaceful meetings and sentenced by the Pervomayskii Regional Court to administrative penalties.
However, the Observatory remains concerned following the recent legislative attempts to amend the legal framework regulating NGOs before the Parliament of Kyrgyzstan. The Bill intended to amend the Law on non commercial organisations[2] by providing discretionary powers to the Government to suspend or close down any NGO, prohibit participation of NGOs to “political activities” and elections, prohibit foreign funding, and impose stringent registration requirements on international organisations.
On January 19, 2010, the Committee on Constitutional Legislation of the Parliament of Kyrgyzstan rejected the bill, which is currently being revised. According to the information received, the new bill would authorise local NGOs to receive foreign funding, but under the condition that their activities are not considered “political” by the Government. A broad interpretation of this provision could result in independent human rights NGOs being denied access to such funds.
The Observatory expresses strong fears that such reform might aim to further restrict human rights activities and silence civil society, all the more as the discussions on the reform of the NGO Law takes place in a context of serious deterioration of the situation of human rights defenders in Kyrgyzstan, in particular since the presidential elections held on July 23, 2009. Reports were made that the Kyrgyz authorities indeed proceeded to a number of arbitrary arrests and threatened a large number of opponents and human rights defenders. According to the Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights (KCHR), Ms. Guliza Omurzakova, member of KCHR was attacked on January 21, 2010 on her way home and on January 31 as she was leaving her office, and threatened because of her human rights activities.
The Observatory thereby urges the Kyrgyz authorities to revoke all legal restrictions against NGOs and human rights defenders, and guarantee them, both in law and practice, the right to pursue their activities without hindrances.
More generally, the Observatory calls upon the Kyrgyz authorities to guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of all human rights defenders in Kyrgyzstan and to put an end to all acts of harassment against them, in accordance with international and regional human rights standards, in particular the 1998 United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.