UNHCR hopeful for release of Andijan 15

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) remained hopeful for the release of 15 people from the Uzbek city of Andijan, currently being detained in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh. "Eleven of the 15 could be released as early as this week," Carlos Zaccagnini, chief of mission for UNHCR, said from the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, on Tuesday, referring to those who had already received UNHCR-mandated refugee status. "We've been informed that their release order is imminent and we are looking forward to that materialising," he said, citing information they had received from the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry. "We will fly these individuals out to their respective resettlement countries as soon as their release is a fact," Zaccagnini added. More than 1,000 Uzbeks fled across the border to Kyrgyzstan, following a violent crackdown on anti-government protests in Andijan on 13 May. Upwards of 1,000 unarmed civilians may have been killed in the protests, according to some rights groups. The Uzbek government claims the death toll is 187. Originally classified as asylum seekers, almost 440 of the registered Uzbeks staying in Kyrgyzstan who were granted refugee status by UNHCR were airlifted to Romania for third country resettlement in late July, while another 15 remained in custody, pending an extradition request by Tashkent. Eleven of them were later granted UNHCR-mandated refugee status. The remaining four appealed against the decision by the Kyrgyz migration department, which had denied them refugee status, and won. "That now puts the [Kyrgyz] migration department in a position where it's going to have to appeal the court's decision or have to undertake the refugee determination status again," he explained. But on the political front, the status of the 15 Uzbek nationals in detention has only further strained relations between Bishkek and Tashkent, with the latter calling for their immediate extradition. According to Zaccagnini, following intense pressure on Kyrgyzstan by the United States, the European Union, UN and others, that looks unlikely, pointing to the fact that 11 of the 15 in detention were currently already UNHCR-mandated refugees and had been accepted for resettlement in Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands. Following the humanitarian evacuation of the refugees to Romania, pressure regarding the plight of the 15 continued. "Now we are seeing the results of that, which is possibly made to coincide with the [Kyrgyz] president's [upcoming] visit to the UN," the UNHCR official said. As for the four that did not have refugee status, Zaccagnini cautioned for more time. "Perhaps we will see Uzbek pressure diminish. In a better environment, we may be able to find a better solution for these four. We are not clear whether they will be ultimately determined as refugees or not," he said. "We actually have to determine their status first. So let's concentrate on that and then we'll see the options," he added. Meanwhile, efforts to resettle the 439 Andijan refugees in Romania are currently continuing. According to UNHCR, there are a number of countries that will ultimately resettle them, including Canada, Australia, the US, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Norway and the Netherlands. "We understand that those going to Germany will go first. Their physical departure is quite imminent," Zaccagnini said, given their smaller numbers. The larger numbers - particularly to the United States - will take a number of months more, he explained.