Nongovernmental organizations in Tajikistan are concerned over new legislation that restricts their access to foreign grants.
Participants at an international conference in Dushanbe said on November 18 that according to legal amendments recently adopted by aparliament, NGOs in the Central Asian nation will only be able to receive grants from foreign entities if they have apprival from the government.
The leader of the National Association of Independent Media in Tajikistan (NANSMIT), Nuriddin Karshiboev, said at the conference that the change would have substantial effects on the activity of NGOs and would probably force some of them to close.
The "Freedom of Speech in Tajikistan" conference was organized by the European Union and Tajik government.