January 26-31, 2015

1. Media

Vecherniy Bishkek, vb,kg, Privately-owned media, Accessed on, 28 January 2015
The Ministry of Culture to assess the possibility of media restrictions

• On 22 January 2015, the Ministry of Justice of Kyrgyzstan put up for public discussion amendments to the Law on the Media.
  
• One of the proposed amendments would allow the Ministry of Culture to stop the activities of the media without a court order. Currently, the government can restrict the media, only with a court order.
  
• The proposed document is under review by government officials and the President.

2. Society and Government

’24.kg,’ Privately-owned media, Accessed on 29 January 2015
Minister of the Interior denies reports of illegal withholding of passports

• Some citizens and human rights activists have reported that police have been seizing documents without cause
  
• The Ministry claims that the only passports are being seized are those suspected to be false; they produced an audit showing that from 2012-2013 2 212 passports were issued on illegal data

3. Ethnic Tensions

Vecherniy Bishkek, vb.kg, Privately-owned media, Accessed on 26 January 2015
Specialists from the Kyrgyz Republic not allowed to access archives in Moscow on border demarcation

• Tajik and Kyrgyz officials have sought to cooperate on border delimitation of the Tajik-Kyrgyz border
  
• They have sought access to archives in Moscow, but have received no help from the states, and were only permitted to work 4 hours a day
  
• The officials are seeking to resolve disputed territories over which there have been violent disputes since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the formation of the new Central Asian republics as sovereign nations.
  

Kabar.kg, State-owned media, Accessed on 29 January 2015
Ethnic conflict in Vasilevka

• A recent conflict between youths of different nationalities in the village of Vasilevka, located just outside of Bishkek, has prompted attention toward the prevention of ethnic conflict in the area.
  
• The village is home to ethnic Kyrgyz, as well as Tajiks and Uzbeks.
  
• Local officials have cited holes in the education system, and a lack of youth employment.