Authorities in Kyrgyzstan are planning to push through legislation that would enable greater government control over the activities of nongovernmental organizations. While the bill has not yet been submitted to parliament, there have already been widespread howls of protest from civil society and legal experts. The NGO sector is at present regulated by an oft-amended law adopted in 1999. Critics of the new legislation say it will lead to crippling complications for many organizations and force a number of them to close. The difficulties start from the moment of registration. At the moment, mem…