Uzbekistan’s
national legislation and constitution contain provisions for the protection of
most human rights. However, a serious
gap between legislation and implementation remains. There were no significant improvements in the
human rights situation in Uzbekistan in 2010, although there was some evidence of
a reduction in the use of child labour during the cotton harvest. We continue to have serious concerns in
several areas, particularly with regard to freedom of expression.
We
believe that the best way we can contribute to an improved human rights situation
in Uzbekistan is through critical but constructive engagement, raising our
concerns on human rights frankly while looking for opportunities to encourage
positive reform. We monitored
developments, observed trials, supported human rights defenders and sought to
work with the Uzbek government on reform projects throughout 2010. The government of Uzbekistan showed, in
general, a greater willingness to engage on human rights issues. However, the incremental approach taken to
reform means that progress towards practical change was limited. Uzbekistan is a country in which it is often
difficult, and sometimes impossible, to obtain objective and credible
information or to verify facts.
In
September, a memorandum of understanding was signed on cooperation between the
UK and Uzbek parliaments, the first of its kind in Uzbekistan. Uzbek and British parliamentary groupings
agreed to work together to facilitate inter-parliamentary dialogue and to
encourage exchange of experience among parliamentarians, including through
parliamentary visits to and from Uzbekistan.
In
a speech to parliament on 12 November, President Karimov stressed the
importance of improving awareness of the law and of educating the Uzbek people
about human rights. He also acknowledged
the need to move from legislation to implementation. We look forward to seeing concrete progress
towards these important goals in 2011.
The Uzbek authorities have indicated a willingness to develop further
dialogue with us on criminal and judicial reform, child labour and media
freedom. We will continue to work for
constructive cooperation in these areas, and to support parliamentary
reform. We will monitor developments and
continue to maintain close contacts with human rights defenders and interested
organisations. We will also raise issues
of concern and seek to observe trials.
We hope that the EU will be able to open a full delegation office in
Uzbekistan soon, which would greatly assist its capacity to develop deeper
cooperation with the government on human rights issues.
Elections
No
national elections were held in 2010 and there were no changes to Uzbekistan’s
electoral legislation. In its report on
the December 2009 parliamentary elections, the OSCE Office for Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights stated that “the election legislation continues
to fall short of OSCE commitments and requires significant improvements”.
In
May, we invited an Uzbek delegation to visit the UK to gain an insight into our
general election process by meeting a range of government and election
officials, as well as observing a constituency vote.
Access to justice
In
2010 the European Commission and Uzbek government agreed to cooperate on an
important joint project entitled “Support to Criminal and Judicial Reform in
Uzbekistan”. The project will be
implemented between 2011 and 2015. Our
Embassy hopes to arrange a scoping visit to Uzbekistan by the National Police
Improvement Agency, with the aim of submitting a bid to carry out the
activities envisaged within this project.
Rule of law
Corruption
remained widespread. Transparency
International ranked Uzbekistan 172 out of 178 states surveyed in its 2010
Corruption Perceptions Index. In his
speeches to parliament of 27 January and 12 November, President Karimov
expressed concern about corruption. Our
Embassy part-funded a project entitled “Strengthening Anti-Corruption Measures
in Uzbekistan”, implemented by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime between 2009
and 2011. The project aims to increase
Uzbekistan’s capacity to implement the UN Convention against Corruption,
including through training, workshops and assistance in reviewing legislation
and drafting a National Anti-Corruption Action Plan.
Reports
are mixed about the extent to which Uzbek legislation on habeas corpus, introduced in 2008, is being implemented in
practice. The Uzbek delegation who
travelled to the UK in March to discuss prison reform also met representatives
from a wide range of UK bodies, including the Ministry of Justice, to share
experience of implementing habeas corpus in
our legal system.
Torture and other ill
treatment
The
continued high number of allegations of torture, especially in pre-trial
detention, remained a serious concern.
In January 2007, the UN Committee against Torture called upon the Uzbek
authorities to address impunity and lack of accountability. While several law enforcement officials have
been disciplined following complaints about human rights abuses, the Initiative
Group of Independent Human Rights Defenders of Uzbekistan claimed that 39
prisoners died as a result of alleged torture in custody in 2010. In practice, it remains impossible to verify
accounts of torture. Despite lobbying by
the UK, Uzbekistan has yet to allow the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture to
carry out a requested follow-up mission to the 2002 visit of then special rapporteur,
Theo van Boven.
Prisons and detention
issues
Physical
conditions in prisons reportedly improved in certain respects, though hepatitis
and tuberculosis were said to be widespread among prisoners. Allegations of serious mistreatment by
officials of some prisoners, and particularly – but not exclusively – those
sentenced on religious grounds, remain a source of concern.
Human rights defenders
We
remained seriously concerned by the numbers of human rights defenders and
dissidents in prison, by restrictions on their activities and by restrictive
registration procedures. Human Rights
Watch’s 2010 report entitled “Uzbekistan’s Imprisoned Human Rights Defenders”
maintained that there were at least 14 human rights defenders in prison in
Uzbekistan. One of these, Farkhad
Mukhtarov, who was initially sentenced in October 2009 to five years in prison
but which was later reduced to four years (on charges of fraud and bribery),
was released from prison in December. We
also remained concerned about attempts by the Uzbek authorities to obstruct the
legitimate activities of human rights defenders and those supporting them.
Along
with other EU member states, we continued to urge the government of Uzbekistan
to release all imprisoned human rights defenders and prisoners of
conscience. Staff at our Embassy
regularly met Uzbek human rights defenders to discuss the human rights
situation on the ground. We also held
informal workshops for human rights defenders at our Embassy to raise awareness
of international human rights law. Where
we assessed that it might help, we raised individual cases with the Uzbek
authorities.
Few
international NGOs are able to operate in Uzbekistan because the authorities
withhold accreditation to foreign NGO staff.
Human Rights Watch continued to operate without a full-time
representative in the country. In
December, the head of the Human Rights Watch office became the third consecutive
representative from the organisation to be denied accreditation. We urged the government of Uzbekistan to
promote greater pluralism of views in the country, including by accrediting a
Human Rights Watch representative.
Freedom of expression
There was an apparent
deterioration in freedom of expression in 2010.
During his address to parliament on 27 January, President Karimov urged “further
liberalisation of mass media, intensification of activity of non-state outlets
of press, radio, television and expansion of their access to the global network
of the internet”. The president’s speech
to parliament on 12 November announced further measures to strengthen the
independence of the media. However,
serious restrictions on freedom of expression remained in place throughout 2010
and independent journalists continued to suffer harassment.
Although formal censorship
was abolished in 2002, several legal and administrative measures result in
self-censorship, including strict registration procedures and a media law
passed in January 2007 which holds all media accountable for the “objectivity”
of their reporting. The government of
Uzbekistan continued to deny accreditation for many Western media
organisations. Internet service
providers had to use the state-controlled telecom operator. Numerous websites, including those of the BBC
and Financial Times, remained
blocked.
Independent
journalists were reportedly beaten and detained, or otherwise harassed in
2010. In early January, the Tashkent
prosecutor’s office summoned six independent journalists for questioning about
their activities. One of them, Abdumalik
Boboev, was found guilty in October of various charges including defamation
related to his work for Voice of America, and was heavily fined. Our Embassy met Mr Boboev and tried to
monitor his court hearings. We were
refused access to these hearings on three separate occasions, but were allowed
access to his appeal hearing in November.
In February, we received
reports that Dimitri Tikhanov, a member of the Human Rights Alliance of
Uzbekistan, had been physically assaulted in Angren which resulted in his
hospitalisation. The alliance alleged
that his attackers referred to his regular internet reports about human rights
breaches. It was reported that Mr
Tikhanov had twice been refused an exit visa in 2010, without which it is not
possible for Uzbek citizens to leave the country.
In
February, Umida Akhmedova, a photojournalist and documentary filmmaker, was
found guilty of “denigration” and “insult” in relation to the production of a
photo album and documentary films depicting rural Uzbek life and
traditions. She was later pardoned. The case was brought by the State Agency for
Press and Information, the government media regulator. Our Embassy met Ms Akhmedova and monitored
her court hearings.
In
February, it became known that Maxim Popov had been sentenced to seven years in
prison in September 2009 on charges relating to his work in combating HIV/AIDs
in Uzbekistan, including producing a brochure on safe sex and the use of
condoms which the authorities deemed did not “take into account national
traditions, culture, and customs of peoples living in Uzbekistan”. In March the EU carried out a formal démarche
on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tashkent, making clear its condemnation
of Mr Popov’s treatment and the harshness of his sentence, and highlighting in
particular the lack of freedom of expression and opinion which characterised
his case.
Russian journalist Vladimir Berezovsky was tried in October. As with Abdumalik Boboev and Umida Akhmedova,
the case centred on the judgment of the Uzbek State Agency for Press and
Information that his work represented “slander” and “insult” to the Uzbek
nation. He too was found guilty but then
pardoned.
In
August, our Embassy offered to facilitate cooperation between the BBC World Service
Trust and the relevant Uzbek authorities to help strengthen Uzbekistan’s media
sector in line with President Karimov’s speeches. A working-level mechanism between our Embassy
and the Uzbek authorities was put in place to discuss this further.
We raised issues of concern bilaterally and with EU
partners, including through the EU–Uzbekistan Human Rights Dialogue. In its statement to the OSCE Review
Conference in Warsaw on 7 October, the EU said that “extra-journalistic
criminalisation of journalists and persons wishing to exercise their freedom of
expression, and their imprisonment on questionable charges remain instruments
of harassment and serious restriction of fundamental freedoms in some
participating States, most notably
in Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.”
It also re-iterated the EU’s “appeal to Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to
address this problem effectively”.
Freedom of religion and
belief
Freedom
of religion remains a serious concern.
Uzbekistan’s legislation guarantees religious freedom, but the reality
is different. The 1998 Law on Freedom of
Conscience and Religious Organisations grants rights only to registered groups
and bans proselytising. Registration is
a complex and lengthy process and officially registered “religious organisations”
are subject to tight legal controls. All
religious activity by unregistered groups is criminalised, leaving peaceful
groups vulnerable to raids on their homes and meetings by the police and
security services. They can also face
interrogation, fines and even imprisonment.
Many groups report having been denied registration on spurious grounds.
Muslims
who do not follow the state-sponsored model are also vulnerable to arrest for
perceived extremism. Large numbers of
Muslims were reportedly sentenced on such grounds in 2010, often in closed
trials. Other groups were also targeted
by law enforcement agencies. For
example, the Church of Christ’s Tashkent premises were raided in May after
allegations that religious teaching had been delivered to minors in
contravention of Uzbek law. Eight
members of the church were arrested and tried on various charges and received
15-day prison sentences or fines.
Women’s rights
Gender
discrimination is prohibited by Uzbek law.
Women are generally well represented in senior positions. The Women’s Committee of Uzbekistan was
established in 1991 to promote the legal rights of women.
However,
concerns persisted about the treatment of women. Independent human rights groups have reported
allegations of female suspects being raped while in detention facilities and of
an unofficial policy of forced sterilisation of women in poorer rural areas, as
a means of controlling birth rates.
The
Uzbek Ministry of Health worked with the EU and UNICEF to carry out the Mother
and Child Health Project, which continued throughout 2010. The project centred on training and mentoring
of health providers in low-cost, high-impact techniques. The British NGO HealthProm contributed to
this project by delivering training in neonatal healthcare.
Children’s rights
Uzbekistan
is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and according to
Uzbek government statistics, more than 50% of the state budget is allocated to
education, and literacy rates rose from 97.7% in 1991 to 99.3% in 2003.
The
Uzbek labour code sets the minimum age for employment at 16 years, and the
constitution prohibits forced labour. In
February, an amendment was made to the code on administrative responsibility
which stipulates that employers who fail to protect minors will be in violation
of labour legislation. The amendment
also made parents responsible for preventing minors from working in adverse
conditions.
In
his appearance before the UN Human Rights Committee in March, Akmal Saidov,
director of the Uzbek National Human Rights Centre, said that the issue of
child labour was an “absolute priority” for Uzbekistan. Uzbek officials denied that there was mass
mobilisation of child labour in the cotton harvest.
However,
child labour during the cotton harvest remained a concern. While it appears that there was an attempt in
certain regions to limit the use of younger children during the 2010 cotton
harvest and that the numbers of children employed on the harvest fell, credible
independent reporting suggested that child labour continued to be deployed on a
large scale. Our Embassy and the
National Human Rights Centre agreed a working-level mechanism to facilitate
greater dialogue on this issue.
Protection of civilians
The
government of Uzbekistan took a measured and constructive approach to the
humanitarian crisis that followed the violence in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan in
June. It responded with commendable
speed, allowing around 100,000 displaced persons to cross into Uzbek
territory. Uzbekistan cooperated closely
with the relevant UN agencies and mobilised significant resources to put in
place temporary accommodation and to provide food and medical facilities.
