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Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday said Kyrgyzstan’s parliament passed two bills that allow the authorities to restrict media activities without judicial oversight and merge the country’s main anti-torture body with the ombudsman’s office, threatening media freedom and protection from torture. The organization urged the Kyrgyz president to veto these laws, stating they violate human rights and breach the state`s commitments under international law.
Syinat Sultanalieva, Central Asia researcher at HRW, called on President Sadyr Japarov to veto the proposed laws and “ensure proper consultation on any future legislation affecting fundamental freedoms,” stressing that enacting these bills would violate Kyrgyzstan’s international human rights obligations and endanger public safety. She stated: “These draft laws are a further dangerous regression in Kyrgyzstan’s human rights commitments.”
The first of the laws passed on June 25 is a new law on mass media, which classifies all websites as mass media outlets and requires them to complete a mandatory registration process before they are allowed to legally distribute information, regardless of their content. The Cabinet of Ministers was granted exclusive authority to establish the rules for registration, re-registration, and the closure of media organizations. Foreign ownership in media companies is also limited to 35 percent, restricting both individuals and organizations.
HRW noted that new registration rules greatly raise the risk that independent media may be refused registration or shut down without court review, allowing authorities to use the law to suppress critical voices.
Journalists, media experts, and lawyers from the working group on the revision of the draft law also expressed deep concern that amendments were made during the second reading in parliament that cancel out previously reached compromises, increase state control, and could lead to increased pressure on independent editorial offices.
The second law aims to merge the independent National Centre for the Prevention of Torture, the main independent national human rights institution created in 2012 after Kyrgyzstan ratified the anti-torture convention, with the ombudsman’s office. Human rights activists believe that this will reduce the effectiveness of the body and jeopardise the protection of fundamental human rights in Kyrgyzstan.
The center has often received praise from UN human rights experts for its compliance with international standards and previous attempts to merge the two institutions have been criticized. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concerns in 2022 over plans to disband the National Centre for the Prevention of Torture, since it could reduce its effectiveness, thus undermining efforts to combat torture. The office called on the Kyrgyzstan authorities to abandon this decision.
The passage of new laws comes amid a broader decline in media freedom in Kyrgyzstan. In recent years, authorities have passed legislation allowing officials to compel media outlets to take down content deemed undesirable, imposed burdensome tax reporting requirements on NGOs, and mandated that organizations receiving foreign funding register as “foreign representatives” and submit to extra audits. Amid these increasing restrictions, government critics have faced persecution, and independent journalists are frequently detained for their reporting, often without being formally charged.
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Syinat Sultanalieva, Central Asia researcher at HRW, called on President Sadyr Japarov to veto the proposed laws and “ensure proper consultation on any future legislation affecting fundamental freedoms,” stressing that enacting these bills would violate Kyrgyzstan’s international human rights obligations and endanger public safety. She stated: “These draft laws are a further dangerous regression in Kyrgyzstan’s human rights commitments.”
The first of the laws passed on June 25 is a new law on mass media, which classifies all websites as mass media outlets and requires them to complete a mandatory registration process before they are allowed to legally distribute information, regardless of their content. The Cabinet of Ministers was granted exclusive authority to establish the rules for registration, re-registration, and the closure of media organizations. Foreign ownership in media companies is also limited to 35 percent, restricting both individuals and organizations.
HRW noted that new registration rules greatly raise the risk that independent media may be refused registration or shut down without court review, allowing authorities to use the law to suppress critical voices.
Journalists, media experts, and lawyers from the working group on the revision of the draft law also expressed deep concern that amendments were made during the second reading in parliament that cancel out previously reached compromises, increase state control, and could lead to increased pressure on independent editorial offices.
The second law aims to merge the independent National Centre for the Prevention of Torture, the main independent national human rights institution created in 2012 after Kyrgyzstan ratified the anti-torture convention, with the ombudsman’s office. Human rights activists believe that this will reduce the effectiveness of the body and jeopardise the protection of fundamental human rights in Kyrgyzstan.
The center has often received praise from UN human rights experts for its compliance with international standards and previous attempts to merge the two institutions have been criticized. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concerns in 2022 over plans to disband the National Centre for the Prevention of Torture, since it could reduce its effectiveness, thus undermining efforts to combat torture. The office called on the Kyrgyzstan authorities to abandon this decision.
The passage of new laws comes amid a broader decline in media freedom in Kyrgyzstan. In recent years, authorities have passed legislation allowing officials to compel media outlets to take down content deemed undesirable, imposed burdensome tax reporting requirements on NGOs, and mandated that organizations receiving foreign funding register as “foreign representatives” and submit to extra audits. Amid these increasing restrictions, government critics have faced persecution, and independent journalists are frequently detained for their reporting, often without being formally charged.
The post Kyrgyzstan adopts laws weakening media freedom and torture prevention, rights group says appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.