Amid pressure to clean up public life in Kyrgyzstan, IDLO has helped draft a bill on conflict of interest. The challenge was both practical and political: Kyrgyzstan is a relatively small country with strong rural traditions, large, close-knit families, and a well-established culture of favors. The new law would ban any payment from interested parties, either in money or in kind, as well as gifts. This includes property, foreign travel or invitations to banquets, shows and sporting events.
Drawn up through the USAID-IDLO Kyrgyzstan Judicial Strengthening Program, the bill was championed by Chairman of Parliament’s Human Rights Committee Erkin Alymbekov. “Corruption is a threat to our national security,” Mr. Alymbekov said at a roundtable in Bishkek dedicated to the bill. As of early 2014, the draft is before the Kyrgyz parliament.
