More Uzbek asylum seekers may be deported

While Bishkek's recent extradition of four Uzbek asylum seekers has drawn strong international criticism, a group of 29 Uzbek asylum seekers held in custody may be deported to Uzbekistan in a week, according to the Kyrgyz prosecutor general's office. "They are dangerous criminals and were involved in organising the Andijan events. There are both terrorists and religious extremists among them," Azimbek Beknazarov, Kyrgyzstan's prosecutor-general, was quoted as saying by the Kyrgyz national news agency Kabar on Thursday. "Why should we give refugee status to criminals? It is wrong," he said, according to Kabar. This, despite the fact that the 29 Uzbeks in question have not been tried or found guilty of any crime in Kyrgyzstan. Bishekek appears to be caving in to pressure from Tashkent to hand over the group to disappear into Uzbek jails, human rights observers said. More than 500 Uzbeks fled the violence in Andijan last month in which Uzbek military forces opened fire indiscriminately on demonstrators in the city. The Uzbek authorities say 173 people were killed on 13 May, while human rights activists estimate up to 1,000 civilians may have been killed in Andijan and surrounding villages. Currently, around 430 asylum seekers are sheltering in the Sasyk-Bulak camp in southern Kyrgyz province of Jalal-Abad, while the 29 asylum seekers are held in custody in the southern cities of Osh and Jalal-Abad. Bulat Sarygulov, deputy head of the Kyrgyz migration service, said on Thursday that the Kyrgyz government was committed to its international obligations under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. "This is our firm commitment," he said. "But the Uzbek government presented hard evidence that those [29] persons were involved in criminal offences, including murder of government officials, totally 37 people [37 murdered in total]," the Kyrgyz official maintained. "Therefore, on the one hand the work on determining the legal basis of those accusations is underway and on the other hand our officials and UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) staff members are working in detention centres to carry out procedures in order to determine whether they qualify for [refugee] status," he added. On Wednesday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour and High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, urged Bishkek to allow all Uzbek asylum-seekers in the country to be properly screened to determine whether or not they are refugees and to ensure their protection under international refugee and human rights laws. "There are well-founded reasons to believe that asylum seekers in Kyrgyzstan, in particular those currently in detention, may face an imminent risk of grave human rights violations, including torture and extra-judicial and summary executions, if returned to Uzbekistan," Arbour said. The UN refugee agency said their staff in Kyrgyzstan were monitoring the asylum procedure which was already underway for the main group of some 450 Uzbeks housed in the Sasyk-Bulak camp in western Kyrgyzstan. On Tuesday, there were also requests from the Kyrgyz authorities to conduct and complete an asylum procedure for the group of 29 detained men by the end of this week. Also on Wednesday, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed to the Kyrgyz government to abide by its international obligations in the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees. In a statement issued by a UN spokesman in New York, the Secretary-General expressed "serious concern" about the fate of the Uzbek asylum seekers and in particular, reports about their possible forced deportation to Uzbekistan. "Such a decision would contradict the commitments currently given to the Secretary-General by the Kyrgyz authorities and would constitute a violation of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention to which Kyrgyzstan is a signatory," the statement said. According to the statement, the Secretary-General appealed to the Kyrgyz government to abide strictly by its international obligations in the treatment of asylum seekers and urged the Government of Uzbekistan to refrain from any action aimed at ensuring the forcible return of Uzbek asylum seekers to their native country.