IRIN interview with human rights activist

Following heavy criticism of its human rights record, the government of Uzbekistan informed the United Nations Human Rights Committee in April, that it had established a system of national human rights institutions, and had legislated against rights abuses. International observers, however, were sceptical, given the reputation of President Islam Karimov for failing to enforce Uzbekistan’s human rights laws. His campaign against independent Muslims continues unabated, according to Human Rights Watch, and the country continues to suffer from a wide array of human rights abuses, including arbitrary arrests, mass deportations, police brutality, torture, detentions, and pushing thousands of moderate Muslims along the road towards extremism. Mikhail Ardzinov chairman of the Independent Human Rights Organisation of Uzbekistan (IHROU) has been at the forefront of human rights in Uzbekistan since the end of the communist era. Describing the government’s stance as purely “rhetorical”, the 68 year-old human rights activist and IHROU founder says there has been little effort to put words into action. In an interview with IRIN, he highlighted Uzbekistan’s current human rights record. QUESTION: What are the three most important human-rights issues in Uzbekistan today? ANSWER: The first issue is the violation, pressure and prohibition of political opposition and the rights of citizens. In other words, specific segments and groups within the population that would like to establish their own opposition groups against the government are banned from doing so. Secondly, [there] are the gross and massive violations of the protected religious rights of Uzbek citizens - repression which is now taking place on a massive scale. According to our figures, the number of people imprisoned for their religious beliefs has already surpassed 7,000. Thirdly, [there] are the violations of social and economic rights, or the fall in the living standards of the majority of the Uzbek population. The median income in Uzbekistan today is US $17 per month, the minimum wage, US $2 to $3, and the minimum pension, US $4 or US $5. At least 30 percent of the Uzbek population is unemployed, a jump of 10 percent from just two years ago. This problem has been particularly prevalent among women and young people. Q: Calling it extremism, the government is cracking down on legitimate religious activities. How has this affected human rights in Uzbekistan? A: The confrontation between the authoritarian regime of our government and religion creates a worsening situation both in terms of human rights, but also [sic] in the social and political climate of the country, resulting in massive discontent amongst religious people. Indeed, such a climate could lead to civil war just like we have seen in Afghanistan, where there was widespread, social upheaval. Over the past 10 years, I have had a great deal of interaction with religious people in this country, and the majority of religious people are not Wahhabi [a radical form of Islam originating in Saudi Arabia]. The majority of religious people are simply Sunni [orthodox] Muslims. They want the Islamisation of society through peaceful means, and the government has met that effort with truncheons. I consider this Islamisation as something that will continue to happen in our society. Islamic values, which were repressed under the Soviet system for 70 years, will nonetheless revive. Our role as human rights defenders is to assure that this Islamisation happens in a civilised manner, as it has in many Muslim countries, such as Turkey. Of course, there are problems with human rights in Turkey, but it is still much better than here. Even in Pakistan, the situation is better. In fact, that country calls itself an Islamic republic. I consider this the only way for religious people in this country to find a civil dialogue and to consider it in a peaceful means. Since 1992, the government has met this Islamisation with truncheons, and in the last three years religious extremist groups have began to appear - radical wings of the Wahhabi movement. Their numbers are small, however, [but] the process has already started and could very well affect all of Uzbek society. Q: How big a problem is torture in your country? A: There is a special way of torture in Uzbekistan, and our president likes to have a specific Uzbek model. Generally, people are brutally beaten or killed. But of course, there are other forms of torture, including putting needles under people’s nails, or putting plastic bags over people’s heads to suffocate them. The most widely used method, however, is brutal beating, and in the process of beating, many people die. Not long ago, Emin Usman, a famous writer, was killed after suffering a fractured skull during a beating. Q: Would you describe such brutality as institutionalised? A: Yes. I myself was beaten at the city’s internal affairs department in 1999. Q: How widespread is the harassment of human rights defenders in Uzbekistan? A: There are currently seven rights defenders in prison. There had been eight, but not long ago a member of our organisation, Macbu Misnova, was freed by the police, following the intervention of Madeline Albright [former US Secretary of State], Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Unfortunately, there are still seven in prison today, including Ismoil Adylov, a long-term activist and leading member of the Independent Human Rights Organisation of Uzbekistan, [taken] from his home in Tashkent on 10 July 1999. He is currently serving six years on fabricated charges. Another member of our group, Rakshan Hamid, is serving 20 years on similar charges. In 1999, I was beaten for 12 hours, and was stripped of my passport. In addition, they took things from my office, including my writings. Q: What are prison conditions like in Uzbekistan? A: Conditions of the Uzbek penitentiary system are even worse today than during the time of the Soviet Union. In Soviet prisons, such massive beating and death by beatings didn’t exist. They [the prisons] were closed then, but now the entire penitentiary system is closed. Entrance is prohibited to everyone, including national organisations, the OSCE [Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe], and even the UN. Even family members and lawyers are often denied access. Q: Are religious prisoners treated differently? A: Yes, there is an especially cruel attitude towards religious prisoners. Many religious prisoners are even killed. According to our information, over the past two years, about 50 corpses have been returned to families. On the whole, these are religious prisoners, and they give evidence of the state’s brutal behaviour towards them. Q: How would you describe the state of democracy in your country? A: I would call our regime an authoritarian one. There is the authoritarianism of the president and the authoritarianism of the regional administration, as well as cities and regions. You could say there is no democracy in Uzbekistan. There is complete censorship of the mass media. Despite claims by the government, on the contrary, there is not a single independent mass media outlet in Uzbekistan. All are censored. In the past 10 years, there has been no criticism of the president either in newspapers, radio, [or] television. Only praise of the president and his authority. Not just economic reform, but all methods of reform move at a turtle’s pace. Democratic reforms are like a game, but, in reality, there is no democratisation. There have always been neighbourhood committees, but under Karimov, the elders of these groups receive a salary from the government. They, too, depend on the government. Now there are five or six policemen to keep track of the people there, especially the religious people. There is no democracy, no free enterprise. Not a single external business agreement is decided without the approval of the president. Q: After repeated criticism of the country’s human rights record, in April 2001, the Uzbek government reported to the United Nations Human Rights Committee that it had established a system of human rights institutions, and passed more than 100 laws and normative acts dealing with human rights. Isn’t this enough.? A: This is another one of the games of human rights and democratisation at the UN. Akmal Saidov, head of the government national human rights organisation, is a demigod of the highest degree. He knows nothing about human rights. Secondly, [there is] is the ombudsman’s office. There, the daughter of a former leader of Uzbekistan during communism, who stood over the Uzbek people for 24 years, is running the operation. This office provides no assistance whatsoever in terms of human rights. It is useless. All those laws and normative acts that they so pride themselves on are simply words and, as the Chinese say: “We respect words, but we respect action more.”