BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, February 12. President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Zhaparov has invited US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to visit Kyrgyzstan, addressing US concerns about the respect for human rights in the country, Trend reports.
Kyrgyz president's press secretary, Askat Alagozov published Sadyr Zhaparov's response to a letter from Blinken. Blinken had previously expressed concern about the draft law on amendments to the Law "On Non-profit organizations," which is under consideration by the Parliament of Kyrgyzstan.
"This draft law was initiated by a group of members of the Jogorku Kenesh (Parliament) of Kyrgyzstan and provides amendments to the current law “On Non-Profit Organizations," adopted back in October 1999. Currently, the above-mentioned draft law has been adopted by the Parliament in its first reading.
The purpose of the draft law is to clarify and streamline the activities of non-governmental and non-profit organizations operating in Kyrgyzstan.
Today, there are tens of thousands of non-governmental and non-profit organizations that are successfully working throughout Kyrgyzstan, addressing many problems that previously the state had neither the will nor the desire to deal with," the letter stated.
According to the president, over the past three decades, a layer of non-governmental and non-profit organizations that receive funding from abroad have appeared in Kyrgyzstan, whose leaders have turned them, in fact, into “family enterprises" engaged in sawing off the money coming from foreign sponsors.
“In this regard, I propose to conduct an audit of the use of funds by non-governmental or non-profit organizations funded by US government organizations—at least for the last 10 years,” Zhaparov said.
“I have the honor to invite you, dear Mr. Blinken, to visit our country and witness that human rights and freedoms in Kyrgyzstan are reliably protected by the Constitution and laws of Kyrgyzstan,” the president concluded.