(Bishkek, June 27, 2025) – Kyrgyzstan’s parliament on June 25, 2025, passed two draft laws that threaten to significantly weaken media freedom and protection against torture in the country, Human Rights Watch said today.
The draft Law on the Ombudsman effectively dismantles the independent National Center for the Prevention of Torture by merging it with the office of the Ombudsman. The draft Law on Mass Media grants authorities wide powers to deny media outlets registration, obstruct their work, and close them down without judicial oversight.
“Kyrgyzstan’s parliament has put human rights protections at serious risk by passing bills that would dismantle crucial oversight mechanisms against torture and undermine media independence,” said Syinat Sultanalieva, Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “President Sadyr Japarov should veto both bills, which would breach Kyrgyzstan’s international human rights obligations and threaten people’s safety and freedom.”
The two draft laws were rushed through second and third readings in a single day, with substantial changes from the versions initially presented to parliament and approved in their first reading, depriving lawmakers and civil society of adequate time to review and respond to the modifications. Kyrgyzstan’s parliament has passed problematic laws in the past in a similarly rushed manner, at the end of its annual session, in violation of its own procedural regulations.
President Japarov should immediately send the bills back to parliament for proper review and revision following due parliamentary process and in consultation with civil society and international experts. The bills as currently written are incompatible with Kyrgyzstan’s international human rights obligations.
The push to merge the independent National Center for Torture Prevention with the Ombudsman’s office, which would reduce the Center’s powers, is not new. In June 2022, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights urged Kyrgyzstan to halt a previous effort, warning that it would weaken torture prevention. The UN Human Rights Committee in 2022 specifically recommended that Kyrgyzstan provide the National Center with the necessary resources to carry out its mandate effectively and independently.
The UN Committee against Torture in 2021 also urged the government to ensure that the Center has adequate financial and human resources, and expressed concern about the 2020 repeal of a provision in Kyrgyzstan’s Criminal Code that had penalized obstruction of the Center’s exercise of its authority.
The National Center was established in 2012 after Kyrgyzstan ratified the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in 2008, and has been frequently praised by UN human rights experts. After the UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, visited Kyrgyzstan in March 2025, he noted that the Center was a “model for the Central Asia region, as the only independent national human rights institution that meets international standards.”
The government has also previously threatened independent media. The draft Mass Media law that parliament passed represents an attempt by the authorities to control information and silence independent voices. Lawmakers deliberately moved away from a previously approved compromise bill that had been developed in collaboration with media stakeholders and legal experts during 18 months of consultations, after a presidential decree established a working group in December 2022.
The bill approved on June 25, in second and third readings, rejects the compromise version. It reinstates the designation of all websites as media outlets and requires them to be registered under rules subject to governmental control. Failure to register would mean they are not allowed to disseminate information and risk prosecution if they do. Websites that are not operated by media entities, such as those belonging to national and international nongovernmental organizations and professional organizations, will most likely also fall under the scope of this designation.
These new registration requirements significantly increase the risk that independent media outlets will be denied registration or ordered to close without judicial oversight, and that the authorities will use the law to silence critical voices, Human Rights Watch said.
The law also restricts foreign ownership or investment in media companies, limiting foreign participation (both by individuals and legal entities) to no more than a 35 percent ownership stake, and notably not making any distinction between commercial media ventures and public interest/nonprofit media organizations. In the past, nonprofit independent media organizations in Kyrgyzstan have drawn on both domestic and foreign funding. Kyrgyzstan’s journalists, media experts, and lawyers have appealed to President Japarov not to sign the bill into law.
Kyrgyzstan’s international partners should urgently call on President Japarov to veto the bills and express their strong concern over measures that undermine fundamental human rights protections. They should make clear that such regressive steps will have consequences for Kyrgyzstan’s relationships and standing.
The European Parliament and EU member states in particular should raise how these bills breach the essential rule of law and rights clauses in the new Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the EU and Kyrgyzstan, which is pending ratification. The bills are also incompatible with Kyrgyzstan’s obligations under preferential trade regimes with the EU.
“These draft laws are a further dangerous regression in Kyrgyzstan’s human rights commitments,” Sultanalieva said. “President Japarov needs to decide if he will act on his commitment to human rights, stop these harmful bills from becoming law, and ensure proper consultation on any future legislation affecting fundamental freedoms.”