EU concerned over human rights

The European Union (EU) has said that it is concerned over the deteriorating human rights situation in Uzbekistan, urging the coutry to adopt more democratic reforms following a cooperation meeting between the 15 member European alliance and the former Soviet republic on Monday. "We are quite concerned about the human rights in Uzbekistan," Diego Ojeda, Spokesman for the EU's external relations commissioner, told IRIN from Brussels on Thursday. "I believe that they heard our messages on the issues loud and clear and we hope that they are prepared to listen to us," he said. According to Ojedo, the EU maintained that the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Theo van Boven's recent report should be implemented. In addition, the country should provide access to prisons to the international organisations such as the Red Cross. "At the very least we would like to have a moratorium on the death penalty," he said. Experts argue that little has changed in the human rights situation of Uzbekistan even after becoming a Western ally by providing vital military bases following 11 September. With an ongoing campaign against independent Muslims, widespread torture in prisons, and repression of women, the country remains reclusive and authoritarian. "We welcome that the EU is taking notice of this aspect of the political situation in Uzbekistan," Matilda Bogner, the head of Human Rights Watch (HRW) in Uzbekistan told IRIN from the capital, Tashkent. Over the past year the EU has made several demands to Uzbekistan in relation to death in custody from torture and also on unfair trials leading to severe punishments such as the death penalty. She maintained that the EU had increased its interest in Central Asia after September 11 and had increased aid to the area, including to Uzbekistan, but at the same time they were looking at the human rights record, the progress towards democracy and increased civil society involvement in deciding the future of the country. "This is much needed in Central Asia today," she said. Following the meeting, the Uzbek Foreign Minister, Abdulaziz Kamilov acknowledged that his government still fell short of Western democratic standards. "Admittedly, we do not meet all international (human rights) standards," he told reporters. However, Bogner maintained that the Uzbek government was quite quick to say that they were not the same as the Western countries to divert the attention from the ongoing abuses in the country. "I think anybody would assume that they should be at that level yet. "However, the Uzbek authorities fail to understand the very serious nature of the human rights abuses that go on in this country," she explained. She suggested that all future assistance to the country should be conditional on a full programme of reforms. "They should start implementing the recommendations from the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, implement habeas corpus and review all the cases of deaths in custody under suspicious circumstances," she said.