Human rights organisations call for greater democracy in Uzbekistan

Five Central Asian and European human rights organisations of have issued a joint statement calling on the authorities in Uzbekistan to grant more freedom to its politicians and citizens.

The statement was issued on 27 September at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) human rights conference in Warsaw, Poland. The document is signed by the International Partnership for Human Rights (Belgium), the Netherlands Helsinki Committee, Kazakhstan International Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law and the Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights.

The Initiative Group of Independent Human Rights Activists of Uzbekistan (IGNPU) is lending support to the declaration, which is designed to draw the attention of OSCE countries to current issues in the Central Asian region.

The document highlights in particular the Uzbek authorities’ hostile attitude to the work of NGOs.

“Only one active human rights organisation, Ezgulik, is recognised, while other groups, including IGNPU, have to carry out their work without having any legal status,” the document states.

The statement’s authors recall the fact that more than ten human rights activists are currently in jail in Uzbekistan, some of whom are tortured or are being kept in extremely harsh conditions.

Participants at the conference were also reminded of the plight of Uzbek television journalists, Malokhat Eshankulova and Saodat Omonova, both of whom lost their jobs at the Yoshlar TV channel after they wrote an open letter alleging censorship and corruption in state television companies.

The authors of the OSCE statement call upon the government of Uzbekistan not to obstruct the registration of human rights organisations and NGOs, to officially recognise Human Rights Watch and to stop pursuing civil activists for illegal activity. They also ask Uzbekistan to stop blocking the websites of human rights organisations and to adopt a law on freedom of association.

Expert Working Group (EWG) director in Uzbekistan, Sukhrobjon Ismailov, addressed the OSCE conference on 26 September on freedom of speech in Uzbekistan and how to ensure the safety of journalists there.

“In 2010-2011, the authorities in Uzbekistan fabricated charges against and put on trial three freelance journalists – Abdumalik Boboev, Umida Akhmedova and Vladimir Berezovsky,” Ismailov said.

The leader of EWG also touched on the problems of internet blocking, especially with regard to social networking sites.

“In July this year, the authorities created a special commission to monitor the content of websites visited by people in Uzbekistan and to draft a list of recommendations on blocking or closing down internet resources if they are registered with the .uz domain suffix,” Ismailov continued.

He reminded the audience that calls to block social sites are common not only in Uzbekistan but in other countries including members of intergovernmental and regional organisations such as the Collective Security Treat Organisation (CTSO) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.


(2011-9-28/Uznews.net)