IRIN Focus on Human Rights

Uzbekistan’s human rights record is under scrutiny again. According to a report from the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination at the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), the government’s recent crackdown on religious and political dissent, stemmed from a perceived threat of Islamic extremists. It said that it indicated “gradual and serious restrictions on freedom of religion, primarily targeting Muslims.” Peter Nobel, the committee expert who served as country rapporteur to the Uzbekistan report on how it was tackling racial discrimination, said that although the constitution granted the same rights and freedoms to all citizens, recent restrictions on religious groups particularly targeted Muslims worshipping outside state-organised mosques, but also included Reformed Baptists and Jehovahs Witnesses. Uzbek Ambassador to the UN, Alisher Fayzullayev, however, told a recent UNHCHR Committee meeting in Geneva that everyone in his country had the right to practise any religion or none, and that notions of tolerance and harmony were widely publicised in the mass media. He did, however, say that “terrorist groups were using the religious sensitivity of the population to scatter their poisonous ideologies.” Countering mounting criticism, Fayzullayev defended his government by stating that with 90 percent of the population being Muslim, “how could a government take measures against Islam?” He stressed that the government of Uzbekistan sought to protect all religions in the country, but among a majority Muslim population, there were some who scattered poisonous idealogy, adding that these “assassins” took advantage of the population’s faith in Islam and “terrorised peaceful people with the aim of changing the structure of the government by violent means.” The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, led by Uzbek militia leader Jumaboi Namangani, is widely reported to be behind a major offensive by Islamist militiamen into Uzbek territory in recent weeks. Namangani, who is committed to overthrowing Uzbek President Islam Karimov and establishing an Islamic state, has mainly Uzbeks and Tajiks in his ranks, but is also reported to have radical Islamic fighters from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Chechyna. According to the international NGO, Human Rights Watch, the government’s policy of intolerance towards “Wahhabis”, the acronym used by the authorities to denote Muslims, especially in the Islamic stronghold of the Ferghana Valley, made a mockery of its assertion that “the stability born of repression is necessary to achieve democracy.” According to a Human Rights Watch report, since February 1999, after the bombing of several buildings in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, the government has “intensified its efforts to intimidate, silence, and punish those who expose abuses, to stop the flow of information to the international community, and to prevent international scrutiny of its disastrous human rights record.” According to Uzbekistan country rapporteur and expert Peter Nobel, “violation of human rights like torturing suspects and members of their families is deeply unethical and it could not be a durable solution, except for inflicting suffering against the individuals.” In the meantime, Amnestry International reported in July this year that death sentences and executions had reached an alarmingly high number in Uzbekistan since February 1999, mostly as a result of the Tashkent bombings which were taken to be an attempt on the life of President Islam Karimov. In addition, it said that it had received frequent allegations of unfair trials that led to death sentences. “Uzbekistan should live up to its obligations to protect detainees from torture, and to uphold international fair trial standards,” Amnesty said. It also said that in line with international covenants and UN conventions to which it has acceded, it should follow up on its stated policy of “abolishing the death penalty by stages”. The organisation also reported allegations of defendants on non-political charges being tortured in detention. see: http://www.amnesty.org/news/200046201400.htm The official Uzbek newspaper ‘Pravda Vostoka’ reported on 24 August that there were, in fact, no political prisoners in the country’s jails. Uzbekistan’s prison population was 63,900 against a planned capacity of 56,300, it said. The report stated that largest proportion of this number, some 36.1 percent, were “serving punishment for theft”, while 23 percent were serving terms “for serious and especially serious crime”. The article added that 11.7 percent of those currently in prison were in prison “for drug-related crimes”. After consideration of the situation in Uzbekistan in recent weeks, in a related issue, the UNHCHR Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination also expressed concern over the lack of domestic legislation for the protection of refugees and asylum-seekers. It recommended that the government enact legislation on the issue in accordance with the 1951 Convention on refugees. It also asked that the authorities pay particular attention to “effective prevention and monitoring of possible areas of ethnic conflict.” Ambassador Fayzullayev of Uzbekistan accepted that “a lot of work” had to be done on the country’s treatment of refugees. As far as inter-ethnic conflict was concerned, he admitted, it was impossible to exclude the isolated incidents. On the positive side of the rights equation, however, the UNHCHR committee cited Uzbekistan’s incorporation of the fundamental provisions of the International Bill of Human Rights in its 1992 constitution; the ratification of the six major international human rights instruments; and measures taken in the field of education, culture and information on human rights. For further details of the deliberations of the Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination on Uzbekistan, go to: http://www.unog.ch/news2/documents