18 January 2006
HUMAN RIGHTS CRISIS WORSENING
The Uzbek government is escalating its campaign of harassing and threatening human rights activists and international organisations as part of an attempt to smother civil society and eliminate non-governmental organizations (NGO), reports Freedom House.
Last week, the IFEX member became the latest NGO to be denied permission to operate in the country after a civil court in Tashkent ordered the group suspended for the next six months.
Uzbek authorities charged Freedom House with violating Uzbek laws, including giving human rights activists access to the Internet. Freedom House is appealing the suspension.
Uzbek authorities have stepped up the harassment of local and international human rights activists and organizations since security forces opened fire on hundreds of peaceful protesters on 13 May 2005 in the eastern town of Andijan, says Freedom House. The government has refused to allow international observers into Andijan to verify how many people were killed.
According to a Human Rights Watch report, those who have attempted to report the truth about the shootings have been "arrested on spurious charges, detained, beaten, threatened, put under surveillance or house arrest, and have been set upon by mobs and humiliated through Soviet-style public denunciations."
As of September 2005, at least 11 human rights activists have been imprisoned, and at least fifteen have been forced to flee the country into exile, says Human Rights Watch.
Since the massacre, roughly 200 local organisations have been forced to close down or leave the country, notes Freedom House. Numerous international NGOs and media organisations, including Internews, BBC, Radio Free Europe and the Open Society Institute have also been pressured into leaving the country.
In its 2005 global review of civil liberties, Freedom House rates Uzbekistan as one of the world's most repressive regimes.
"The state imposes strict limits on freedom of speech and the press, particularly with regard to reports on the government and [President Islam] Karimov. The government controls major media outlets and newspaper printing and distribution facilities. Self-censorship is widespread, while the few journalists who dare to produce probing or critical reports of the authorities face harassment, physical violence, and closure of their media outlets," says the report.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) adds that all independent foreign broadcasters have been forced to leave Uzbekistan due to ongoing harassment and threats by authorities.
In October 2005, the BBC closed its Tashkent office citing government pressure, while the Uzbek service of Radio Free Europe (RFE) has documented more than 30 cases of attacks against its journalists since the Andijan massacre. On 12 December 2005, RFE was denied accreditation and said it would close its operations in the country.
Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) notes that the Internet remains Uzbekistan's best hope for independent news and information. There are a number of citizen journalism sites, such as Arena (http://www.freeuz.org), or websites run by opposition parties. However the latter are often targeted for censorship and routinely blocked by the authorities.
For updates on the situation in Uzbekistan, visit: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/185/
Visit these links:
- Freedom House: http://tinyurl.com/bto74
- Freedom House Report on Uzbekistan: http://tinyurl.com/7aqs4
- Human Rights Watch on the Andijan Massacre: http://hrw.org/reports/2005/uzbekistan0605/
- Burying the Truth: http://hrw.org/reports/2005/uzbekistan0905/
- Uzbek Journalist Witnesses Massacre: http://tinyurl.com/c4xut
- CPJ:
http://www.cpj.org/news/2005/Uzbek12dec05na.html
- RSF Report on Uzbekistan: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=13459&Valider=OK
- Index on Censorship on the Internet's Popularity in Uzbekistan: http://tinyurl.com/bxoan
- Chronicle of RFE Harassment:
- Former UN Expert Decries Torture in Uzbekistan
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/12/20/german12337.htm
- UN Human Rights Commissioner: http://tinyurl.com/aq8kb
- Ferghana News Agency: http://enews.ferghana.ru
(Photo courtesy of RFE/RL)
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