![[Uzbekistan] Andijan refugees at a camp outside Jalal-Abad.](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/20055240.jpg.webp?itok=3lUEuGVH "Uzbek refugees from Andijan in a refugee camp outside Jalal-Abad - most are too frightened to return despite leaving jobs and close relatives behind")
The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) plans to move a group of Uzbek asylum seekers from southern Kyrgyzstan to the capital, Bishkek, to protect them.
Carlos Zaccagnini, head of the UNHCR's mission in Bishkek, said on Tuesday that it had offered to relocate some of the refugees pending the determination of their status and likely resettlement to third countries.
Zaccagnini's comments came after five registered Uzbek asylum seekers - who fled their country and came to Kyrgyzstan after the bloody suppression of civil protests in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan in May 2005 - went missing in southern Kyrgyzstan.
UNHCR said in the most recent incident two asylum seekers had been reported missing from the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh after they left its migration office last Wednesday.
On 16 and 17 August unidentified men forced two more asylum seekers into cars in Osh and drove off. UNHCR said it had received credible reports that at least one of the abducted asylum seekers might be in police custody in Andijan, which is 50 km from Osh.
In July, the head of the Andijan regional branch of the unregistered Uzbek Erk opposition party, who was seeking refugee status in Kyrgyzstan, also went missing in Osh.
The Kyrgyz government, in violation of its international obligations, also recently extradited four refugees and one asylum seeker wanted by Tashkent on terrorism charges.
UNHCR said there were roughly 50 asylum seeking cases involving 90 Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan, half of whom were living in the south. Most fled Uzbekistan after the government crackdown in Andijan.
Right groups estimate that up to 1,000 people, mainly unarmed civilians, were killed by the Uzbek security forces in Andijan. Tashkent maintains the death toll was 187.
Zaccagnini said that ultimately it was the government's responsibility to protect and safeguard refugees.
"In that regard following the disappearances [of Uzbek asylum seekers] recently we have brought this to the attention of the [Kyrgyz] authorities and urged them to investigate their whereabouts and report back to us on this very worrisome development in the south," Zaccagnini said.
The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) said on Monday that the asylum seekers might have been forcibly returned to Uzbekistan. It called on the Kyrgyz government to investigate the disappearances.
"The disappeared asylum seekers could face serious human rights violations if returned to Uzbekistan. In numerous previous cases, Uzbek asylum seekers who have been forcibly returned to their home country in the aftermath of the Andijan events have been subjected to torture and ill-treatment and given harsh sentences in unfair trials," IHF said.
UNHCR said it had regretfully noted the decay of the Kyrgyz asylum system, which until recently had been quite exemplary.
Meanwhile, 41 Uzbeks who were granted refugee status by UNHCR and resettled in the United States last year had voluntarily returned home, AP reported on Monday.
The group arrived in Tashkent on Friday night and were taken to their homes in Andijan, according to the Uzbek Foreign Ministry, which said the Uzbek government facilitated their return.
They were the third group of Andijan refugees claimed by the government to have returned in recent weeks. In July, the ministry claimed 12 refugees had returned from the US after being "deceived" into leaving Uzbekistan.
UNHCR resettled 430 Uzbek refugees from Andijan to Western countries last year, including 150 to the US.
AT/GS/DS
Carlos Zaccagnini, head of the UNHCR's mission in Bishkek, said on Tuesday that it had offered to relocate some of the refugees pending the determination of their status and likely resettlement to third countries.
Zaccagnini's comments came after five registered Uzbek asylum seekers - who fled their country and came to Kyrgyzstan after the bloody suppression of civil protests in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan in May 2005 - went missing in southern Kyrgyzstan.
UNHCR said in the most recent incident two asylum seekers had been reported missing from the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh after they left its migration office last Wednesday.
On 16 and 17 August unidentified men forced two more asylum seekers into cars in Osh and drove off. UNHCR said it had received credible reports that at least one of the abducted asylum seekers might be in police custody in Andijan, which is 50 km from Osh.
In July, the head of the Andijan regional branch of the unregistered Uzbek Erk opposition party, who was seeking refugee status in Kyrgyzstan, also went missing in Osh.
The Kyrgyz government, in violation of its international obligations, also recently extradited four refugees and one asylum seeker wanted by Tashkent on terrorism charges.
UNHCR said there were roughly 50 asylum seeking cases involving 90 Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan, half of whom were living in the south. Most fled Uzbekistan after the government crackdown in Andijan.
Right groups estimate that up to 1,000 people, mainly unarmed civilians, were killed by the Uzbek security forces in Andijan. Tashkent maintains the death toll was 187.
Zaccagnini said that ultimately it was the government's responsibility to protect and safeguard refugees.
"In that regard following the disappearances [of Uzbek asylum seekers] recently we have brought this to the attention of the [Kyrgyz] authorities and urged them to investigate their whereabouts and report back to us on this very worrisome development in the south," Zaccagnini said.
The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) said on Monday that the asylum seekers might have been forcibly returned to Uzbekistan. It called on the Kyrgyz government to investigate the disappearances.
"The disappeared asylum seekers could face serious human rights violations if returned to Uzbekistan. In numerous previous cases, Uzbek asylum seekers who have been forcibly returned to their home country in the aftermath of the Andijan events have been subjected to torture and ill-treatment and given harsh sentences in unfair trials," IHF said.
UNHCR said it had regretfully noted the decay of the Kyrgyz asylum system, which until recently had been quite exemplary.
Meanwhile, 41 Uzbeks who were granted refugee status by UNHCR and resettled in the United States last year had voluntarily returned home, AP reported on Monday.
The group arrived in Tashkent on Friday night and were taken to their homes in Andijan, according to the Uzbek Foreign Ministry, which said the Uzbek government facilitated their return.
They were the third group of Andijan refugees claimed by the government to have returned in recent weeks. In July, the ministry claimed 12 refugees had returned from the US after being "deceived" into leaving Uzbekistan.
UNHCR resettled 430 Uzbek refugees from Andijan to Western countries last year, including 150 to the US.
AT/GS/DS
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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