The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Kyrgyzstan.
According to the information received, on December 2, 2009, Ms. Nigina Bakhrieva was denied access into Kyrgyzstan, where she was travelling to hold a training for the Kyrgyz Ombudsman office staff, and was informed that she was banned from entering the country until 2019.
When Ms. Bakhrieva requested the border officers at the Bishkek airport to provide her with an explanation, she was told that during her last visit to the country in September 2009 she had encountered "problems with the law enforcement authorities of Kyrgyzstan". Ms. Bakhrieva was not given further details as of the type of problems and the exact designation of the authorities concerned.
Ms. Bakhrieva was then immediately sent back aboard the same plane back to Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
In September 2009, Ms. Nigina Bakhrieva had traveled to Bishkek to take part as a trainer in a workshop for human rights defenders on the use of international mechanisms for individual complaints.
The Observatory strongly condemns the deportation of Mrs. Nigina Bakhrieva, which seems to merely aim at sanctioning her human rights activities.
The Observatory further recalls that on November 19, 2009, Mr. Bakhrom Hamroev, a Memorial Human Rights Centre member, was deported to Moscow after having been accused of illegal collection of information on the social and political situation in Kyrgyzstan and of "spreading information on Hisb-ut-Tahrir", an international Islamic organisation that is banned in several countries in the region[1].
Additionally, on February 26, 2009, Mr. Vitaly Ponomarev, Director of the Memorial Central Asia Programme, was also deported from Kyrgyzstan and declared persona non grata for having published a 24-page report about religious persecution and torture in Kyrgyzstan a month earlier[2]. Earlier, on October 12, 2008, Mr. Ivar Dale, representative of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC), who was in the process of opening a regional office for Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan, was denied entry to the territory while returning from a trip in Europe. On September 5, 2008, Mr. Dale was tried by a local court in Bishkek for "illegal work in Kyrgyzstan" - the NHC not having been officially registered there, despite the completion of all formalities - and for providing "false information" in a visa application in November 2007. He was then banned from the territory of Kyrgyzstan for 10 years by the security services, on the grounds that his presence on the territory of Kyrgyzstan was considered as "contrary to national interests"[3].
The Observatory recalls that as a Participating State of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Kyrgyzstan acknowledges that "the [...] UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders [...] places] a responsibility [...] on States to adopt and implement adequate legislation and administrative procedures that would provide for a conducive environment for human rights defenders to promote and strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels", and recognises "the need for particular attention, support and protection for human rights defenders by the OSCE, its Institutions and field operations, as well as by participating States"[4].
Actions requested:
Please write to the authorities of Kyrgyzstan and ask them to:
i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of all human rights defenders in Kyrgyzstan;
ii. Put an end to acts of harassment against Ms. Nigina Bakhrieva as well as all human rights defenders in Kyrgyzstan and ensure in all circumstances that they are able to carry out their work without unjustified hindrances;
iii. Guarantee in all circumstances the fundamental rights of human rights defenders in Kyrgyzstan to freedoms of movement, of association and of peaceful assembly;
iv. Conform in any circumstances with the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, in particular its article 1, which states that "everyone has the right, individually or in association with others, to promote the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels", and its article 12.2 which provides that "the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration";
v. Comply with the provisions of the Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the 2nd Conference on the Human Dimension of the Cooperation and Security Conference in Europe (CSCE) (1990), and guarantee the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and other international human rights instruments ratified by Kyrgyzstan.
Addresses:
· Mr. Kurmanbek Salievich Bakiev, President of the Kyrgyz Republic, Kyrgyzskaya Respublika, 720003. Bishkek, Prospekt Chuy, 205, Kyrgyzstan. Fax: 996 312 218 627, Email: ghpress2@rhl.bishkek.su
· Mr. Daniar Oussenov, Prime Minister, Fax: 996 312 218 627
· Mr. Moldomoussa Kongantiev, Minister of Internal Affairs, Fax: 996312663031, 996312288788
· Minister of Justice, Fax: 996312663044 / 996312656502
· Attorney General of the Kyrgyz of Republic, Fax: 996312665411
· Permanent mission of Kyrgyzstan, Rue Maunoir 26, 1207 Geneva, Switzerland, Email: kyrgyzmission@bluewin.ch, Fax: +41 22 707.92.21
· Embassy of Kyrgyzstan in Brussels, 47 rue de l’Abbaye, 1050 Brussels, Belgium, Tel: + 32 2 640 18 68 / + 32 2 640 38 83, Fax: + 32 2 640 01 31, Email: aitmatov@infonie.be
Please also write to diplomatic representations of Kyrgyzstan in your respective countries.
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