Statement: Veto the Bill – Preserve Kyrgyzstan’s Lifeline Against Torture
30 June 2025 |
The decision made by Kyrgyz Parliament on June 25, 2025 to dissolve the National Centre for the Prevention of Torture (NCPT) has caused Araminta to express deep concern. This legal change would eliminate Central Asia’s strongest independent oversight mechanism and cause a major deterioration of the progress made toward torture prevention.
Araminta urges President Sadyr Japarov to use his constitutional power to veto the bill. The president maintains the authority to make this decision throughout the period ending in late July. This moment is critical. The implementation of this legislation would result in the dismantling of the NCPT’s distinctive inspection capabilities and its capacity to document abuses while risking to violate Kyrgyzstan’s Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) obligations.
The NCPT represents more than an institutional framework. The NCPT functions as an independent national mechanism that operates freely throughout detention centers while maintaining its credibility through documentation work and oversight and reform activities. Through its operations the NCPT exposed torture and ill-treatment, catalyzed action and contributed to three key changes: the closure of facilities with inhumane conditions, improved medical access and implemented the standards of the Istanbul Protocol for documenting torture. The NCPT has received positive recognition from the UN Human Rights Committee along with the UN Committee Against Torture and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights who recognized the organization as “a model for the Central Asia region” in March 2025.
The process to abolish the NCPT was neither transparent nor inclusive. The liquidation clause appeared in the bill during its second reading without any involvement from experts or civil society representatives. The transition process failed to maintain the fundamental duties of the NCPT. The transfer of NCPT’s mandate to the Ombudsman’s office through insufficient operational independence guarantees and staffing and legal protections risks transforming torture prevention into a hollow symbolic process without actual oversight.
The current situation poses a dual threat to international human rights obligations by endangering both human life and legal compliance.
The elimination of the NCPT at this time puts vulnerable detainees including those in pre-trial detention as well as women and children in closed facilities and people with disabilities at risk of losing their protection.
If changes are deemed necessary, the NCPT should undergo reform through public consultations with civil society and international partners to develop a concrete plan which ensures continuity and builds upon existing achievements rather than dismantling them.
The President should use this opportunity to defend human dignity and protect the rule of law as well as maintain Kyrgyzstan’s international position.
Veto the bill. Preserve the NCPT. Protect the right to be free from torture.
— Araminta
