The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Kyrgyz authorities to repeal a controversial "foreign representatives" law that the Central Asian nation’s President Sadyr Japarov signed on April 2, saying it is a replica of a repressive Russian law on "foreign agents."
In a statement issued after Japarov endorsed the bill into law, the CPJ described the move as "Japarov's decision to follow Russia’s lead on ‘foreign agent’ legislation," which "threatens to erase Kyrgyzstan’s 30-year status as a relative haven of free speech and democracy in post-Soviet Central Asia."
"While the law’s current form does not directly target media outlets, it could cripple the work of press freedom groups and nonprofits running several of Kyrgyzstan’s celebrated independent media organizations and must be repealed," CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator Gulnoza Said's statement said.
The law obliges noncommercial organizations and media outlets that receive foreign funding and are engaged in broadly defined "political" activities to report their activities to the authorities. The legislation also introduces wide oversight powers by the authorities and potential criminal sanctions for undefined criminal offences.
Last week, more than 100 Kyrgyz NGOs urged Japarov not to sign the bill, saying it will negatively affect the operations of all such organizations in the country.
They warned Japarov that, if the measure comes into force, organizations involved in assisting Kyrgyz citizens with obtaining medical equipment and medicine to treat numerous diseases, including cancer and HIV, as well as groups involved in educational programs, human rights, and anti-corruption activities, may have to stop their operations.
Earlier statements by human rights groups regarding the controversial bill stated that the legislation will negatively affect the freedom of expression in Kyrgyzstan.
Since the law was first introduced last year, civil society activists have warned of the consequences of approving such legislation, especially given that similar legislation in Russia laid the groundwork for the systematic dismantling of civil society.
Since 2012, Russia has used its “foreign agents” law to label and punish critics of government policies, including the February 2022 full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
The vague laws have been used to persecute organizations working in diverse fields such as education, culture, health care, environmental protection, human-rights defense, and especially independent media.
Once called an "island of democracy" in the region, Kyrgyzstan stood out in Central Asia for many years thanks to the independent journalism, intrepid reporting, and media innovation that existed in the country. However, in Reporters Without Borders' most recent global ranking, Kyrgyzstan fell 50 places, sitting in 122nd place -- only 12 spots above its longtime authoritarian neighbor Kazakhstan.