Uzbek asylum seekers adamant to stay

Uzbek asylum seekers are adamant they do not want to return to their homeland after government security forces killed up to 1,000 people in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan in May. "We have heard rumours that the authorities are arresting anyone suspected of taking part in the [recent] anti-government protests," Noilya, a teenage girl from Andijan, told IRIN in the camp where the asylum seekers are living. The camp is located in an area called Teshik-Tash, a deserted remote hill, 45 km west of Jalal-Abad, the provincial capital of the southern Kyrgyz region with the same name. Teshik-Tash is close to the Uzbek border and the camp is the only shelter available to 492 asylum seekers from Uzbekistan. The climate in the area has daytime temperatures of up to 35 degrees Celcius and penetrating fierce winds blow at night. Up to 500 people are living in 10 tents designed to shelter 10 people each. Noilya was not alone in her concern. A group of young men undergoing medical treatment said firmly they would not return to their homeland. "We have learnt that in Andijan they [the authorities] check everybody they want to and force people to give testimonies they want," they said. The injured young men were wounded when Uzbek security forces reportedly turned their guns indiscriminately on unarmed protesters in Andijan's main square on 13 May. The men categorically refused to give their names, fearing their relatives and friends could face reprisals from the Uzbek authorities. Noilya's friend Kibriyo is not only concerned about her own future but also for what will happen to her fellow victims. "We have been here for 19 days. So many representatives of various international organisations and journalists have visited us within this period of time. Everyone stands for having our lives settled," she told IRIN. "But all of us are still here and we do not know yet what is going to happen to us tomorrow," she added. Bishkek has yet to decide what to do with the Uzbek asylum seekers, whom they consider to be displaced persons and have issued special temporary IDs that have now been extended for a further 10 days. Both the UN and major international rights groups have urged Bishkek not to send them back to Uzbekistan, reminding the Kyrgyz government of its obligations as a signatory to the UN Convention on Refugees. On Friday, Human Rights Watch (HRW), an international rights watchdog, called on the Kyrgyz government to ensure that Uzbek asylum seekers fleeing the recent government killings in Uzbekistan, would not be forced to return to their country, where they believe they remain at great risk. "Kyrgyzstan did the right thing by allowing the first wave of Uzbek citizens to enter its territory," Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at HRW, said in a statement. "But it must ensure respect for the right to seek asylum. If people are pushed back at the border or forcibly returned to Uzbekistan, they could be killed or tortured." Such concerns are supported by the 2003 UN Special Rapporteur on Torture whose report found torture in Uzbekistan to be "systematic." Aid workers on the ground say the camp needs to be relocated given the proximity to the border and also because the area is prone to flooding. The Kyrgyz leadership stated that no Uzbek asylum seeker would be deported from the country by force and the Kyrgyz national news agency Kabar reported that the government was looking into alternative places to relocate the asylum seekers. Meanwhile, some Uzbeks were optimistic about their future. "I believe that the international community will not leave us to the mercy of fate," Kibriyo said. "As for us, we have to be patient as it is written in the Koran. One should not lose one's heart under any circumstances. Bright days will come for sure. We have gone through the most difficult [days]." Businessman Tavakkil Khojaev, a 28-year-old leader of the community, was clear in his hopes for resettlement in a new country. "All of us are working people; the majority of us are young. There are people of different working trades among us - cooks, confectioners, builders and businessmen. And we will work for the welfare of the country, which will admit us. We will prove that we are worthy and law-abiding people, not 'terrorists' as the officials in Tashkent state," he said.