Tashkent outlines human rights progress

Long criticised internationally for its poor human rights record, Uzbekistan is committed to democratic reforms which will eliminate torture and other abuses, according to a government official. "We are working on these issues [human rights]. Maybe it is not that fast, but the process is going on and it is pretty positive," Ilkhom Zakirov, a spokesman for the Uzbek foreign ministry, told IRIN from the capital, Tashkent on Tuesday. The Uzbek government accepted the recommendations made by UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Theo van Boven, in his report on the country last year. Following his recommendations, the government has subsequently put in place measures to help eliminate torture, Zakirov maintained. Another positive development, he said, was the inclusion of penalties and punishment for torture in the Uzbek criminal code, which has already resulted in convictions of some law-enforcement officials. "Maybe we could have done it last year or earlier, but every change in law, including criminal, requires time. "So, the process of fulfilling the criteria that were presented to us by various democratic organisations, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), is continuing," he explained. Earlier last week, the Uzbek justice ministry hosted a meeting of an inter-agency working group on compliance with human rights by law-enforcement bodies. The working group was founded in accordance with the government's decision last month to improve the protection of human rights and further deepening legal and judicial reforms in Uzbekistan. The group endorsed a plan of measures on implementation of the UN convention against torture, approved by the government earlier this year. "This is done not because of pressure put on us. If democratic changes do happen in the country they happen because we are aware that without building a truly democratic state and without reaching all those goals set on this road we cannot achieve any success," Zakirov stressed. His comments came on the same day that Uzbek special forces stormed a suspected Islamic militants' hideout in a Tashkent suburb, killing at least 16 fighters and losing three of their own troops. Uzbek forces moved in to end a day-long siege that followed two separate bomb attacks in the most populous Central Asian nation over the past two days, both of which have been blamed on Islamic extremist groups. A blast ripped through the Chorsu market in the capital on Monday and another explosion took place in the southwestern Uzbek province of Bukhara a day earlier. The explosions claimed the lives of 19 people, including six law-enforcement officers, and injured some 25 people. The government official said the recent incidents were organised and planned by religious extremists, because religious literature was found in a blown-up house in Bukhara and in a car packed with home-made explosive devices that was checked by the police. "It is possible to conclude that these people were related to some extremist religious organisations, particularly Hizb ut-Tahrir," he said. But the group has denied responsibility for the attacks, AP reported, quoting the organisation's spokesman Imran Waheed. "Hizb ut-Tahrir does not engage in terrorism, violence or armed struggle," he said. "We feel these explosions come at a very opportune moment for the Uzbek regime. ... One has to wonder whether the finger of blame should be pointed at the Uzbek regime itself." But Zakirov stated that the recent incidents wouldn't prevent Tashkent from continuing democratic reforms in the country. "These incidents once more reaffirm that efforts on conducting reforms should continue."