On the 9th of June officers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs accompanied by the National Security Service personnel raided the Norwegian Helsinki Committee’s office in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek. -We consider this action a clear violation of international norms, says Bjørn Engesland , right, Secretary General of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (9-JUNE-08).
This is a press release of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee
-Our work for human rights and democracy in Central-Asia has been conducted transparently, in understanding with Kyrgyz authorities and in compliance with national laws. Human rights work is protected by international documents within the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the UN, and Kyrgyzstan is legally and politically bound by these documents. On this background, we have brought information about the raid to the attention of international institutions, says Bjørn Engesland , Secretary General of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC).
Two of the officers identified themselves as servicemen of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD), while two other persons were “witnesses”, according to the policemen. The “witnesses” took pictures of and filmed documents belonging to NHC. Persons present at the office identified the two ”witnesses” as employees of the National Security Services (SNB). The MVD officers asked Ivar Dale, the NHC representative in Bishkek, a number of questions about the activities of the organisation. The police were unable to present a search warrant or other documents officially authorizing the raid.Ivar Dale was informed that he may be called in for “questioning”, but the legal grounds for such a questioning remain unclear.
The UN, the Kyrgyz Ombudsman for Human Rights, Kyrgyz parliamentarians, media representatives and local human rights organisations arrived at the NHC office during the unofficial check up. Both local and the international representatives were strongly critical to the unauthorized action.
The police explained that such actions are standard procedure and that all international organisations sooner or later are thoroughly examined by Kyrgyz police authorities. However, they could not mention other organisations that have been examined. To the knowledge of NHC, similar raids have never previously been carried out against international organisations in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan.
The action may be linked to the fact that NHC last week launched a small grants fund for human rights projects in neighbouring Uzbekistan. Similar funds have previously been launched in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. These funds are important sources for local organisations that work to strengthen human rights and democracy.
The office of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee was established in Bishkek in 2006. Since then the NHC has sought registration with the Ministry of Justice as a representative office in accordance with Kyrgyz legislation, but the registration has repeatedly been postponed by the Kyrgyz bureaucracy.
