The Soros-Kyrgyzstan Foundation is ending grantmaking activity in the Central Asian nation after distributing more than $115 million in funding to non-profit groups and other organizations over the past 31 years. A statement issued by the Open Society Foundations, the parent entity of the Kyrgyz foundation, cited the introduction of restrictive “foreign agents” legislation as the reason for the closure.
“We deeply regret that the organization’s activities can no longer continue and that the new repressive law will lead civil society to operate in an environment of uncertainty and fear,” said OSF President Binaifer Nowrojee, referring to Soros-Kyrgyzstan, which began operating in 1993 in the aftermath of the Soviet Union’s collapse.
OSF officials opted to cease operations rather than face the risk of a prolonged bout of persecution from a government that has introduced authoritarian-minded legislative changes in recent years, including the new rules governing the country’s non-profit sector. OSF representatives described provisions of the foreign agents legislation as “extremely vague,” potentially exposing non-governmental organizations and their employees to punishment for what the law classifies as “political activity.”
OSF’s previous, grueling experience in battling Hungary’s strongman, Viktor Orban, who manipulated his country’s legal system to drive Central European University from Budapest to Vienna, may well have factored into OSF’s thinking about what to do about its Kyrgyz affiliate. The downside of fighting on appeared to outweigh any upside of its grantmaking having a desired outcome.
Soros-Kyrgyzstan funding supported initiatives in a variety of areas, such as education, public health, access to new digital technologies, independent media, criminal justice and legal aid reform, according to the OSF statement. The Bishkek-based foundation worked not only with non-profit groups, but also created joint initiatives with governmental agencies. For example, the government, with Soros-Kyrgyzstan assistance, launched the first palliative care center in 2021 for seriously ill people in the country. In 2019, at the National Museum of Art, Soros-Kyrgyzstan funded the production of audio guides for blind people. The foundation also allocated $1 million in funding in 2020 to help contain the Covid pandemic.
“Now such well-intentioned activities in the interests of the country will be unfairly labeled as ‘foreign representatives,’” the OSF statement said.
OSF and its affiliated foundation network was founded and is funded by billionaire George Soros, who has long been pilloried by right-wing and authoritarian-minded politicians and public figures around the world as a radical leftist “puppet master” intent on sowing global disorder. In the early 2000s, Soros foundations across Eurasia faced accusations of fomenting “color” revolutions, including the 2005 upheaval in Kyrgyzstan that led to the downfall of Askar Akayev’s administration.
Foreign agents legislation implemented in Russia appeared to be crafted with the Soros foundations in mind. The Soros foundation in Russia was banned in 2015, among the early targets of Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s campaign to capture the country’s non-governmental sector.
Kyrgyzstan’s foreign agents legislation mimics Russia’s version in many aspects, critics say. The Kyrgyz law enshrines a novel concept that non-governmental organizations and media outlets that receive funding from foreign sources are capable of “performing the functions of a foreign representative engaged in political activities.” Thus, all organizations that receive funding from abroad now must follow onerous disclosure regulations. Failure to comply exposes the entity in question to stiff penalties.
President Sadyr Japarov brushed aside US appeals to review and rework the legislation. When signing the law, he pledged that it would not enable persecution, but instead would improve NGO activity in the country. He contends that the legislation will help fight “grant eaters” who have turned their non-profits into “family enterprises.”
Alexandra Titova, an artist and journalist from Bishkek, told Eurasianet that Soros-Kyrgyzstan played an important role in developing independent journalism and rule-of-law projects. Such activity prompted a prolonged misinformation campaign against the foundation conducted by authoritarian-minded actors.
“The foundation has always supported independent journalism, especially projects published in the Kyrgyz language,” Titova said. “Perhaps this is why there was this long-term propaganda from [purveryors of disinformation] that the Soros-Kyrgyzstan Foundation was bad and, perhaps, that is why they wanted to close them down so much. It’s very sad that this is happening.”
