The Kyrgyz government should stop interfering with human rights and election-monitoring groups in Kyrgyzstan, Human Rights Watch said today.
Human Rights Watch urged the delegates to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's annual Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, held in Warsaw on October 6-17, to raise the cases of civil society groups at risk.
In a letter to Kyrgyz President Askar Akaev, Human Rights Watch said that government tactics were endangering the work and the very existence of essential nongovernmental organizations in the country.
"Kyrgyz organizations are working hard to improve human rights conditions for everyone," said Rachel Denber, acting director of the Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch. "Their work should be supported. Instead, we're seeing the Kyrgyz government using crass maneuvers to eliminate these groups."
Human Rights Watch expressed concern regarding the effective deregistration of one of Kyrgyzstan's leading human rights groups, the Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights (KCHR).
On September 24, the Kyrgyz Ministry of Justice re-registered selected former members of the group as the KCHR, thereby stripping the original leadership of registration. The group's long-time head, Ramazan Dyryldaev, said the men registered by the ministry had not been elected by the members of the group. He and international observers characterized the move as a government attempt to sabotage an independent group with a critical voice. The government attempted the same move in 1998, but reversed the decision in 1999 following international protest.
In its letter to President Akaev, Human Rights Watch welcomed the government's decision, taken just prior to the OSCE meeting, to re-register the Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society. The group had been rejected three times under various pretexts and appeared to be on the verge of losing its legal status. International outcry is credited with having convinced the Kyrgyz government to finally register the group.
"The incident with the Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society is more proof that the international community can be effective when it speaks out against government attacks on rights groups," said Denber. "Delegates at the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting should use the opportunity of that gathering to highlight the harassment that Kyrgyz groups face."
The Ministry of Justice had previously rejected the Coalition's application by claiming that the group violated Article 8 of Kyrgyzstan's constitution, which limits the activities of foreign groups but not local ones. Article 8 prohibits "Activities of foreign political parties, non-governmental and religious organizations, including their representative offices and branches, which pursue political goals…" In its letter, Human Rights Watch said that Kyrgyz authorities should clarify the constitutional provision so it could not be manipulated this way again.
Human Rights Watch raised the issue of government hostility toward rights advocates in its June 2003 letter to the European Union.
