Uzbekistan

[kaur]

This paper is Olga Oliker's testimony presented before the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe on May 18, 2007.

Author gives her own explanation of causes of violent opposition.

http://www.rand.org/pubs/testimonies...RAND_CT282.pdf

[Jedburgh]

The Jamestown Foundation, 27 Jun 07:

Reassessming Andijan: The Road to Restoring US-Uzbek Relations

...This paper places the events in Andijan in a broader context, starting with Uzbekistan’s independence after the collapse of the USSR in 1991 and progressing onward with the development of indigenous political movements and the post-Soviet rise of Islam in Central Asia.

Polat gives an in-depth description of events both preceding and following the demonstrations, armed attacks and subsequent government response quelling the disturbance. No topic is too sensitive, from government policies to the statements by the leaders of the unrest themselves. Every available piece of open source evidence, from interviews to videos as well as a number of studies by Western specialists in the aftermath of the insurrection, has been painstakingly analyzed and incorporated into this paper....

[kaur]

Uzbekistan remains a serious risk to itself and its region. While 69-year-old President Islom Karimov shows no signs of relinquishing power, despite the end of his legal term of office more than half a year ago, his eventual departure may lead to a violent power struggle. The economy remains tightly controlled, with regime stalwarts, including the security services and Karimov’s daughter Gulnora, exerting excessive influence, which drives away investors and exacerbates poverty. The human rights situation is grave, and those who seek to flee abroad live in constant danger of attempts to return them forcibly. While the government cites the “war on terror” to justify many policies, its repression may in fact be creating greater future danger. Efforts at international engagement have been stymied by its refusal to reform and to allow an independent investigation of the May 2005 Andijon uprising. Little can be done presently to influence Tashkent but it is important to help ordinary Uzbeks as much as possible and to assist the country’s neighbours build their capacity to cope with the instability that is likely to develop when Karimov goes.

http://www.crisisgroup.org/library/d...ncertainty.pdf

[Jedburgh]

HRW, 7 Nov 07: Nowhere to Turn: Torture and Ill-Treatment in Uzbekistan

Torture and ill-treatment—and impunity for perpetrators—are part of a wide-ranging problem of human rights in Uzbekistan. The Uzbek government has a poor record across a spectrum of violations. It does not tolerate dissent, severely restricts media freedoms, has persecuted and imprisoned a number of human rights defenders, and does not in practice permit public demonstrations that express criticism of the authorities. Individuals whose Islamic beliefs, practices and affiliations are at odds with official Islam are branded “fundamentalists” or “extremists” and are sentenced to lengthy prison sentences. Great numbers of people in Uzbekistan face barriers to lifting themselves from staggering poverty due to corruption and human rights violations.

Torture and ill-treatment is an enduring problem in Uzbekistan. In the past decade a number of reports by Uzbek and international human rights organizations have documented ill-treatment, including torture, in Uzbek police and security facilities, remand prisons, and post-conviction facilities. Three things, however, have distinguished the discussion of torture in the past few years from previous years. First, Uzbekistan’s engagement with the United Nations anti-torture machinery, which resulted in several legal reforms. Secondly, the government’s strenuous efforts to convince the international community that it is committed to torture reform, while acknowledging neither the scale of the problem or the impunity for it. Thirdly, the government’s fierce crackdown on civil society following the May 2005 Andijan uprising and massacre.....