Tag Archives: society

Uzbek president wants more powers for NGOs

DEC. 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Perhaps Uzbek President Islam Karimov plans to re-position himself as a defender of civil society. On Dec. 13 he signed a decree apparently aimed at promoting Uzbek non-government, non-profit organisations.

It’s, frankly, a curious agenda to push and the real reasons behind the drive to relax the burden on civil society are still to emerge. From Jan. 1 registration fees for local branches of NGO will be reduced.

It’s been hard for NGOs in Uzbekistan. They have routinely complained of inspections from tax officials which result in petty fines.

As for human rights groups, they’ve mainly been forced to leave. News agencies have been chased out too.

The list of problems that real NGOs and civil activists face in Uzbekistan is long, very long. This decree is likely to be window dressing. There is still a long way to go to strength civil society in Uzbekistan.

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(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)

Kyrgyz poem enters UNESCO list

DEC. 4 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — UNESCO agreed to include Manas, the epic Kyrgyz national poem, on its cultural heritage list. The decision is a victory for Kyrgyzstan which sees the poem as a bedrock of its national identity. Streets are named after Manas which tells the story of 13 Kyrgyz tribes uniting to form one nation.

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(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)

UNESCO gives polo to Azerbaijan

DEC. 4 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — In the end, despite, Iranian objection, Azerbaijan got its way. It can now celebrate a decision by UNESCO, the UN’s cultural body, to decree the game of chovqan as originating in Azerbaijan, media reported.

Chovqan is similar to polo. Other examples of past-times and hobbies that UNESCO has given special national status to include Japanese Washoku cooking and Georgian wine making.

But Azerbaijan’s drive to have UNESCO infer special status on chovqan has upset its neighbour Iran which said the game was pan-regional. Relations between Azerbaijan and Iran have become increasingly strained.

And there are people in Baku who also agree that Azerbaijan’s priorities in pushing for special UNESCO recognition of chovnaq is wrong.

Local media quoted Rahman Badalov, a Baku-based philosopher and art critic, as saying that this was “the latest example of the government misusing budget resources”.

Still, for Azerbaijan’s officials this is an important victory that helps to build its national heritage.

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(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)

Polygamy increases in Kazakhstan

DEC. 4 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A growing inequality divide is fuelling an increase in polygamy in Kazakhstan, Bloomberg News reported. The Bloomberg story quoted an Almaty-based socialite as saying that it has become fashionable for wealthy Kazakhs to have more than one wife. Polygamy was popular in Kazakhstan before it became part of the Soviet Union.

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(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)

Internet users grow in Uzbekistan

DEC. 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The number of people using the internet in Uzbekistan has grown by 18% over the past year to around 7.1m people, media quoted Uzbek President Islam Karimov as saying. As a democratic tool, though, the internet is severely limited in Uzbekistan as the authorities heavily monitor users. The population of Uzbekistan is 30m.

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(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)

Protesters rally in Kyrgyzstan

DEC. 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Hundreds of protesters clashed with police in Osh, in the worst violence in the south of Kyrgyzstan since fighting between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in 2010. The protesters were angry at the arrest of a southern Kyrgyz MP for alleged corruption. Reports said the protesters briefly captured a government building.

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(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)

Turkmenistan showcases Olympic facilities

DEC. 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Often dubbed reclusive and authoritarian, Turkmenistan took the rare step of inviting 80 foreign sports journalists to look around its new sports stadium built to host the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. Turkmenistan’s main objective, however fanciful, is to host the Olympic Games, one day.

(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)

ILO to publish report on Uzbekistan

DEC. 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The International Labour Organisation (ILO) denied a report on the Uznews.net website which said it had not found evidence of child labour during its investigation of Uzbekistan’s cotton harvest. An ILO spokesperson said it was examining data and that it planned to issue a report in February.

(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)

Petrol prices increase in Azerbaijan

DEC. 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s government increased the price of petrol by about a third, its first increase in seven years, media reported. It’s too early to say what impact the price rises will have on communities as they will come into force on Jan. 1 2014, but local media has already reported several small scale protests.

(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)

Kazakhstan investigates child labour

DEC. 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s Prosecutor-General launched an investigation into possible child labour practices in southern Kazakhstan after it found 700 children picking cotton, media reported. International organisations have criticised Central Asia’s cotton industry, and in particular Uzbekistan, for using children to pick cotton harvests.

(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)