6 May 2015 (15:00-16:15)
Brussels, Belgium
Dear Sirs,
I address all those present in this hall. I would like to draw your
attention to the situation of human rights in Uzbekistan on the eve of the 10th
anniversary of the Andijan tragedy.
The mass murder committed by the government of the dictator Islam
Karimov on 13 May 2005 is a crime to which the statute of limitations does not
apply. And it still needs an international independent investigation.
Misuse of firearms led to many victims. The Andijan tragedy was a
natural consequence of the repressive policies of the Karimov regime. These
policies exclude the observance of the Constitution and international
agreements on human rights ratified by Uzbekistan.
In the first year of their imposition, the EU sanctions against
Uzbekistan, which followed the refusal to allow independent experts, led to the
release of the largest number of political prisoners compared to all the years
of a dialogue. However, in 2007, Germany initiated a dialogue with the Karimov
government in the field of human rights and was the most active supporter of
lifting the sanctions. As a result, there is a lack of significant changes in
the field of human rights. Instead, a political bargaining has start. And now
the list of political prisoners gets only updated.
Up to 40 civil society activists are constantly in prison. A former Member
of the Parliament of Uzbekistan, Murad Juraev, is serving the fifth consecutive
sentence which totals to 21 years. The human rights defenders Isroil Kholdarov,
Azam Farmonov, Ganikhon Mamatkhanov and a journalist Muhammad Bekzhanov are
each serving a second consecutive sentence.
All attempts to appeal against their sentences were fruitless, because neither
the judiciary nor the legislature is independent of the executive power. At the
end of the last parliamentary elections, eight judges assumed office at the Parliament
of Uzbekistan, one of whom is a member of a political party. Although, they were
removed from holding an office in the judiciary recently, the fact that the Chairman
of the Constitutional Court, as the head of the election commission, allowed
them to run at the elections shows a complete disregard for the Constitution. Similarly,
the dictator Islam Karimov is occupying his post for the fourth term in a row.
Over the past 10 years, 487 civil society activists were persecuted and
their relatives subjected to discrimination. The number of refugees originating
from the country is growing every year. Thousands of citizens of Uzbekistan are
declared wanted by Interpol on trumped up charges, including eyewitnesses of
the Andijan tragedy, and even well-known human rights defenders from Andijan
Lutfullo Shamsutdinov, Muzaffarmirzo Iskhakov and others.
Continuing a purely formalistic dialogue on human rights between the EU
and Uzbekistan is unacceptable. This leads to an increase in the number of
victims of human rights violations in Uzbekistan and the refugees originating
from the country, including illegal ones.
Asylum applications of Uzbek entrepreneurs are rejected, immigration
officers ignore the fact that in Uzbekistan the rights of ownership are not
protected at all, and the tax sector is extremely corrupt. The head of the tax
administration is one of the richest and most influential people in Uzbekistan
Batyr Parpiev - a close relative of Rustam Inoyatov, the head of the National
Security Service.
Over the 26 years of Islam Karimov’s rule, not a single leader,
including Mr Karimov himself, declared his income. At the same time, their
property clearly does not correspond to their official income. In such a
country it is difficult to be protected oneself from torture, to count on a
fair trial, and even save lives. That is why even the businessmen are now turning
into refugees. Migrant workers who have lived abroad for several months also seek
asylum, because, upon returning to Uzbekistan, they are subjected to extortion
of bribes, forced to testify against themselves and those with whom they
communicated abroad.
Immigration officials of the European Union often do
not take into account that refugees from the countries of Central Asia are not always
able to document the politically motivated persecution. In Uzbekistan, the
authorities almost always take an individual in for interrogation without any
official papers and refuse to investigate the use of torture. For example, in
2014, a human rights defender Fahriddin Tillaev was tortured during the
investigation. His lawyer immediately filed a motion for a forensic medical
examination, but the prosecutor's office and the court ignored it.
Uzbek security services have unlimited power.
Moreover, they have the authority to act in the member states of the SCO and
the CSTO. The exchange of refugees between Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and
Tajikistan has become a common practice.
Over the past 4 months, our organisation documented 14
cases of abductions and disappearances of Uzbek citizens. More than 100
"Osh refugees", living in Uzbekistan illegally and under a total
control of the National Security Council, are facing deportation to their
country of origin Kyrgyzstan. Since 2007, political murders of three critics of
the regime of Islam Karimov were committed. Muhammad Salih and Obid Qori
Nazarov a prominent religious figure suffered several politically motivated
attacks in Norway and Turkey, Sweden. We see numerous threats and intimidation
against political refugees in Sweden, Norway, Holland, France, Canada and the
United States. We are submitting our appeal to the prosecutors of the EU
countries in this regard.
According to information available to our organisation, Uzbek diplomats
are involved in this activity too. Before 2007, 20% of the diplomatic corps of Uzbekistan
were linked to the National Security Service and its agents, however, now this
figure is more than 50%. The Uzbek embassies coordinated intelligence
activities of Uzbekistan in the EU. This information is obtained from a
reliable source. All candidates for diplomatic posts are approved by the SNB.
We note signs of involvement of Uzbek oligarchs controlled by the SNB in
threats against political refugees and assault on them. The first deputy
chairman of the National Security Council Hayot Sharifhodzhaev and his jailed younger
brother Javdat Sharifhodzhaev are publicly known. During the past few years,
they were engaged in extortion from successful entrepreneurs using official position;
some of the businessmen were forced to pay for special operations/measures
aimed at eliminating opponents of the regime abroad. All the information that
our organisation has collected about these measures was sent to the relevant institutions
to combat such practices.
For the last 10 years, the Association for Human Rights in Central Asia
documented 114 cases of murders, abductions, disappearances, which involved the
Uzbek security services, diplomats and oligarchs.
Ethnic Karakalpaks are discriminated against in Uzbekistan. They are persecuted
not only for their beliefs. Residents of Karakalpakstan suffer from pollution,
but not one of them was recognised as an "environmental refugee". It
is essential to include a program to support the population Karaklpakstan in
the dialogue in the field of human rights.
The EU needs to revert to the original demands that
were put forward to the Government of Uzbekistan when lifting the sanctions in
2009, which have not
yet been complied with, and to begin implementation of the resolution of theEuropean Parliament, adopted in October 2014. The European
Parliament must reiterate that it is important to maintain a consistent policy
of the EU regarding Uzbekistan, as
1) The Government of Uzbekistan did not renew the accreditation of HRW representatives in the country;
2) there are still no conditions allowing the mission of the International Red Cross to visit places of detention;
3) the practice of forced labour continues;
The Association for Human Rights in Central Asia,
IPHR, HRW, Amnesty International and FIDH call upon the EU to:
4) insist on granting access of 11 thematic special rapporteurs of the United Nations to Uzbekistan;
5) support the establishment of the office of the Special Rapporteur on Uzbekistan by the Council of the UN on Human Rights because the Uzbek government refuses to cooperate with UN human rights institutions, grossly and systematically violate human rights.
The current practice of dialogue on "the EU - Central Asia" encourages repression and is in need of radical reform.
Dear Sirs,
I hope that the outcome of this discussion will be a new strategy for
relations between the EU and Uzbekistan with the participation of the UN
Special Rapporteur on Uzbekistan. I, as a citizen of Uzbekistan, wish my
country to respect freedom of speech, there was an independent judiciary,
stable conditions to be created for the protection of fundamental rights and
freedoms. The EU can make a historic contribution to the development of
democracy in Uzbekistan.
Nadejda ATAYEVA
