Tag Archives: human rights

Tajikistan targets opposition activist

JULY 18 2017 (The Bulletin) — Human Rights Watch and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee accused the Tajik authorities of intimidating 10 relatives of anti- government activists who had taken part in a conference in Germany earlier in the month to mark the anniversary of the the end of the civil war 20 years earlier. HRW said that local officials had threatened the activists with having their property confiscated and banned them from leaving the country.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)

Ex-ILO official accuses WB of wilful ignorance on Uzbek forced labour

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TASHKENT, JULY 11 2017 (The Bulletin) — In a letter to the FT, Elaine Fultz, a former director for the Central Asia office of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), accused the World Bank of turning a blind eye to forced labour at its projects in Uzbekistan.

She was writing after the World Bank refuted a report last month from Human Rights Watch that forced labour was being used on its projects. The World Bank rejected the accusations and said that the ILO had investigated forced labour accusations in 2016 and concluded that the practice had been stopped.

But Ms Fultz, head of the ILO’s Central Asia office from May 2007 until January 2009 and now a consultant at US-based JMF Research Associates, said that the ILO team that toured Uzbekistan had been too small, too inexperienced and also been accompanied by a group of trade union officials who acted as government minders.

“Under these conditions, the ILO’s failure to detect forced labour in World Bank project areas is hardly surprising,” she wrote. “So why did the World Bank commission the ILO to report on the state of forced labour in Uzbekistan? We must conclude that it did so because it knew precisely what sort of report it would get.”

The issue of forced labour has haunted the Uzbek cotton sector. Over the past seven years Western companies have boycotted garments made from Uzbek cotton because of its association with forced labour.

In its report of June 27, HRW said that the World Bank invested over $500m into Uzbek agriculture in 2015/16 and that it would be impossible for its projects not to be tainted by forced labour.

A World Bank spokesperson told media that it condoned any use of forced labour in Uzbekistan.

“We continue to voice our strong concerns on labour issues to the government of Uzbekistan and we have been working with the International Labour Organisation to put in place a robust monitoring programme,” she said.

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(News report from Issue No. 336, published on July 16 2017)

HRW may return to Uzbekistan

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TASHKENT, JULY 5 2017 (The Bulletin) — Taking its era of openness to new heights, the Uzbek government said it may allow Human Rights Watch to re-open its office in Tashkent, six years after it was effectively expelled.

The BBC has also posted an advert for an Uzbek language journalist to be based in Tashkent, suggesting that it too was also preparing the ground for a return to Uzbekistan.

In comments reported by official media, Uzbek foreign minister Abdulaziz Kamilov said: “Our cooperation with Human Rights Watch underwent something of a pause, some time in 2010. But this does not mean that we have definitively suspended relations or that we do not want to cooperate.”

The human rights lobby was told to leave Uzbekistan in 2011. The BBC and other media had been thrown out of the country six years earlier after reporting on the deaths of hundreds of people in the town of Adijan after government soldiers opened fire.

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has looked to open up the country since taking over as president in September 2016, promising to give ordinary Uzbeks more freedom.

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(News report from Issue No. 336, published on July 16 2017)

Uzbek rights activist dies

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JUNE 22 2017 (The Bulletin) — Uzbek human rights activist Nuraddin Jumaniyazov has died in prison of tuberculosis, the New York based Human Rights Watch reported by quoting his wife. Jumaniyazov had been arrested in 2014 for human trafficking, charges that his supporters said were politically motivated. Access to Jumaniyazov was limited and his wife said that he died at the end of 2016.

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(News report from Issue No. 334, published on June 26 2017)

Comment: Ignore the corporate feel, EXPO-2017 is worth a visit

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JUNE 19 2017 (The Bulletin) — After a build-up lasting five years, Kazakhstan has finally opened EXPO- 2017. If you’re in Astana between now and mid-September when it closes, you should go. It feels excessively corporate and you’ll probably come out of the EXPO-2017 site none-the-wiser on what exactly its Orwellian-tinged ‘Future Energy’ means, but don’t dwell on this — it’s not the real point of the exposition.

EXPO-2017 is a source of national pride and a must-do event for most ordinary Kazakhs this summer, at least for the ones who live in and around Astana. And this pride and sense of fun is evident throughout EXPO-2017. The dozens and dozens of uniformed guides are courteous, speak excellent English and are genuinely helpful. The student volunteers beam with joy and are relishing the internationalism of the whole event.

As for the visitors, when I was there it must have been 95% Kazakh. These were groups of families and friends touring the pavilion, drinking in each country’s take on EXPO- 2017. This ranges from Britain’s glowing yurt to Iran’s focus on promoting its carpets.

The visiting Kazakhs, armed with selfie sticks and aging smartphones, weren’t the super rich who travel effortlessly around the world, these were Kazakhs who may never have left Central Asia, or been on a solitary trip to Europe. EXPO-2017 feels as if it has returned the international exposition series to its original mid-19th century Victorian era roots of bringing the world to a particular city.

The human rights lobby draws visitors’ attention to Kazakhstan’s poor record for tolerating dissent and media freedom, and there have been widely documented corruption issues around EXPO-2017, but push this aside for now and enjoy the spectacle.

And make sure you don’t miss out on the Caribbean pavilion, the least scripted section. The women from Belize, Haiti and Dominica will tell you how they are coping with four months in Kazakhstan, a country they hadn’t heard of until earlier this year.

By James Kilner, Editor, Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)

Comment: Don’t ignore Kazakh rights abuse

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JUNE 19 2017 (The Bulletin) — Kazakhstan sees EXPO-2017 in Astana as a “showcase to the international community”.

The country has come a long way economically since 1991 but with President Nursultan Nazarbayev in power for 25 years, it has not had an election that could be considered free and fair by independent monitors. The government restricts fundamental freedoms and has become increasingly intolerant of any sort of display of discontent.

In recent years, Kazakh authorities have increased their heavy-handed response to peaceful protest, imprisoned activists and journalists on politically motivated charges, and shut down critical media outlets.

Foreign investors – many of whom recognise the importance of upholding international labour standards – should note that while the government claims it promotes social partnership, it has decimated Kazakhstan’s independent trade union movement and drawn repeated criticism from the International Labour Organisation.

Kazakhstan aspires to be one of the top 30 most developed countries by 2050 and to join the Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD). No one can fault Astana for seeking out opportunities like EXPO 2017, but the government’s rights-violating policies are an impediment to such aspirations.

By Mihra Rittmann, Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch

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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)

UN chief’s visit disappoints human rights activists

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ALMATY, JUNE 15 2017 (The Bulletin) — UN Security general Antonio Guterres completed a tour of all five Central Asian states, his first since taking the job six months ago, although human rights activists complained that he had taken too soft a line on a regional crackdown of journalists and dissenters.

Mr Guterres’ main message was that the governments of the region need to remain engaged with international organisations to reach their full potential.

“Kazakhstan has been a symbol of dialogue, a symbol of peace, a symbol of the promotion of contacts between cultures, religions and civilizations; and with its presence in the (UN) Security Council, an extremely important dimension in mediation, in relation to conflict,” he said in Astana.

In Ashgabat, a few days later, after attending a counter-terrorism conference Mr Guterres, a former Portuguese PM and UN high commissioner for refugees, took a tougher line on rights.

“Upholding the rights of freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly in this region are fundamental to countering the threat that violent extremism poses,” he said.

Even so, with media freedoms and human rights on the retreat in the region, after a series of arrests of journalists and a crackdown on workers’ unions, activists accused Mr Guterres of going soft on the issue in favour of developing nodes of engagement.

Hugh Williamson, director of the Central Asia division at New York- based Human Rights Watch, said Mr Guterres had failed to meet members of local civil rights movements on his tour of the region and that describing Kazakhstan as a “pillar of stability” and Kyrgyzstan as a “pioneer of democracy” was sending out the wrong message.

“Central Asian leaders also pay close attention to what high-level visitors like Guterres focus on, also in public,” he said in a statement.

“Not only did Guterres fail to set clear expectations on human rights improvements across Central Asia, his praise for his largely authoritarian audience risks sending the message that trampling over human rights is fine.”

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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)

Gulen-linked arrested asks for asylum in Georgia

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JUNE 7 2017 (The Bulletin) — Supporters of Mustafa Emre Cabuk, a manager of a school linked to the Gulen network, protested against his detention by the Georgian authorities last month. A court is considering his appeal for asylum after Turkey asked for Mr Cabuk to be extradited on charges that he was a so-called Gulenist, a group it blames for an attempted coup last year. Turkey has been pressuring countries in Central Asia and the South Caucasus to close down Gulen education networks and extradite the teachers.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Quitting EITI has no hurt, says Azerbaijan’s minister

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JUNE 8 2017 (The Bulletin) — Quitting the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) has not dented Azerbaijan’s ability to attract international investments, Azerbaijan’s deputy economy minister, Sahil Babayev, said during a conference. Azerbaijan quit the EITI earlier this year after a row over media freedom and human rights. Analysts had said that quitting the transparency group would hit Azerbaijan’s ability to pull in major loans. The EBRD and other lenders, though, have signalled that they are still prepared to lend to Azerbaijan on certain projects.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Georgia accused of helping to kidnap Azerbaijani journalist

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TBILISI, MAY 31 2017 (The Bulletin) — NGOs and dissident Azerbaijani journalists accused the Georgian government of helping to kidnap an opposition journalist and handing him over to the authorities in Azerbaijan.

Allegations that Georgia had allowed masked men to bundle investigative journalist Afgan Mukhtarli into a car and drive him to the border with Azerbaijan shocked Azerbaijani dissidents living in Tbilisi. Many have sought refuge in Georgia over the past five or so years as the Azerbaijani government clamped down on journalists it considered troublesome and opposition activists.

Georgian officials denied the allegations and ordered an investigation, but that has not lifted suspicions that its security services were complicit in the kidnapping.

Tural Gurbanli, an Azerbaijani journalist who fled from Baku to Tbilisi said dissidents were worried.

“I chose to take refuge in Georgia,” he told the Bulletin. “Georgia is now cooperating with Azerbaijan to pressurise Azerbaijani journalists and activists living here.”

On Friday, roughly 60 protesters gathered outside the Georgian parliament, criticising the government.

In response, the Georgian government released a terse statement. “The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia launched an investigation under the Article 143 of the Criminal Code of Georgia regarding the case of Azerbaijan journalist Afgan Mukhtarli, which pertains to illegal deprivation of liberty,” it said.

The office of Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor confirmed that Mr Mukhtarli was in its custody. It said that he had been charged with crossing the border illegally.

Last week, a few days after a visit by Turkish PM Binali Yildirim, police detained Emre Cabuk, a manager at a school in Tbilisi linked to the Gulen network, and started procedures to extradite him to Turkey. Turkey is pursuing Gulen networks across the world. It accuses them of links to terrorism and plotting a coup.

Over the last few months, Georgia has boosted its military, diplomatic and trade relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey and commentators suggested this alliance may be influencing its stance on human rights.

Ani Wandaryan, a commentator on the South Caucasus, said in a tweet: “In one week, Georgia has allowed both Azerbaijan and Turkey to take dissidents. A big civil rights surrender for an EU-hopeful country.”

Georgia wants to join both the EU and NATO, which both place an emphasis on improving human rights and free speech.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)