Uzbek Human Rights

Cross-posted from Registan.

Uzbek Human Rights
Posted By CXW On 25th July 2005 @ 03:09

There's been a fair amount of activity on the HR Uzbekistan and HR Kyrgyzstan Yahoo! Groups over the last week or so, with a common thread being provided by the adjective Uzbek one way or another. So to review the main topics:

BOFAX has released a comment paper on international legalities surrounding the case of Uzbek refugees in southern Kyrgyzstan, concluding that were the Kyrgyz authorities to repatriate them it would be a breach of at least two international conventions:

...one may safely state that should Kyrgyzstan return those asylum-seekers who fled the protest repression in Andijan, it would violate also its obligations under the Convention against Torture. Moreover, as mentioned earlier, the return of these persons to Uzbekistan is also in contravention of the principle of non-refoulement as stipulated in the 1951 Geneva Convention.

The paper, No. 294E, entitled "Returning Uzbek Asylum-Seekers: The Principle of Non-Refoulement" can be obtained from Dr. Noelle Quenivet, or should be available for download from the BOFAX site shortly.

The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) has sent out a press release entitled "Unprecedented Wave of Repression Against the Uzbek Human Rights Community" to accompany their report on the situation of human rights activists in Uzbekistan post-Andijan, '"One can't keep silent" - The Persecution of Human Rights Defenders in Uzbekistan in the Aftermath of Andijan.' Both reports are available for download in English and Russian.

Forum 18 has also issued a number of reports on religious matters in Uzbekistan recently, specifically efforts by the authorities to close down the only remaining Protestant church in the north west of the country, the arrest of Pentecostal Kural Bekjanov, and death threats and intimidation by secret police of another Protestant, Marina Kalinkina, who works for the registered charity Bridge of Friendship. There have also be reports of Bibles being confiscated earlier this month. Whilst the issue of faith-based charities and people converting to Christian denominations in predominantly Muslim coutries is far from clear-cut, provoking strong opinions for many people, on a basic level of human rights these are clear violations by a regime known for its intolerance of any religious activities be they Islamic or Christian.

From Russia comes a press release by the Memorial Human Rights Centre alleging that 14 ethnic Uzbeks who were arrested in Ivanovo have been tortured. The 14 were arrested on suspicion of involvement with the Akramiya movement and the disorders in Andijan and may be extradited to Uzbekistan. The Memorial site appears to be down at the moment, but the text of the press release (in Russian) can be found here.

Article taken from Registan.net - http://www.registan.net

URL to article: http://www.registan.net/?p=5774