Ms. Constance Thomas

Director, International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC)

International Labour Office

Route des Morillons, 4

CH – 1211 Geneva

Switzerland

Dear Ms. Thomas,

We appreciate the efforts of the International Labour Organization to promote the application of ILO conventions in Uzbekistan. As a global coalition of business, labour and human rights organization, we have long advocated for high-level, tripartite ILO monitoring of the cotton sector, which is a vital first step towards ending forced labour and forced child labour in Uzbekistan. We are pleased that the ILO has begun monitoring this year’s harvest. Yet we remain deeply concerned that the Uzbek government has prevented unfettered access for the ILO and that the people of Uzbekistan are unable to fully participate in the monitoring.

The root cause of forced labour and forced child labour in Uzbekistan is the state-order system, under which the government coerces both adults and children to grow and harvest cotton. It is undeniable that the state-organized, coercive mobilization of over a million children and adults to work in the cotton fields in Uzbekistan is forced labour for economic development on a massive scale. Already this year, Uzbek civil society has documented clear instances of forced labour. In the spring, authorities mobilised children and adults to plough and weed,[1] and authorities beat farmers for planting onions instead of cotton[2]. Prior to this school year, administrators required parents to sign commitments that their children would pick cotton in order to register for school.[3] Starting September 6, authorities mobilised teachers, doctors and other public-sector workers to pick cotton or pay fines.[4] Starting September 10, high-school and university students have been sent to pick cotton, and government officials have ordered business owners to send their employees, contribute financially, or face tax inspections.[5] On September 16, 200,000 people were sent to the fields from Tashkent city alone,[6] and government officials have mobilized one-fifth of all public-sector workers in Syrdarya region.[7]

It is vital that the ILO take these reports seriously, as evidence that the government has not demonstrated its commitment to end forced labour. Already, Uzbek citizens have reported that authorities have instructed them to tell international monitors ‘we came to pick cotton voluntarily in order to help our government, to raise the economy of the country and work hard for our motherland.’[8] This raises serious concerns that Uzbek government participation in on-the-ground monitoring is having a chilling effect on Uzbek citizens’ willingness to speak openly with the ILO monitors

Again, we emphasize the vital importance of unfettered monitoring, which we see as independent of government interference, timely access to all locations, full participation of civil society, and tripartite validation. Given these concerns and that the root cause of child labour is the forced-labour system, we urge you to raise the level of transparency of the ongoing ILO monitoring mission in Uzbekistan: first by making public the implementation plan and survey instruments, second by taking into account reports from independent civil society, and third by ensuring the findings are validated with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and International Organisation of Employers (IOE).

By taking these important steps we believe that the mission can be an effective first step toward eliminating the root causes of forced labour and forced child labour in Uzbekistan.

Sincerely,

The Cotton Campaign

Advocates for Public Interest Law

American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations

American Federation of Teachers

Anti-Slavery International

Association for Human Rights in Central Asia

Calvert Investments

European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights

Human Rights Watch

International Labor Rights Forum

Open Society Foundations

Responsible Sourcing Network

---

[1] Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights, Chronicle of Forced Labour, Issue 1, June 5, 2013, http://uzbekgermanforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Reports-from-the-cotton-fields-Issue-1-2013.pdf (accessed 20 September 2013).

[2] “Vice-governor beats 8 people at government meeting in Uzbekistan,” CA-News.org, 26 April 2013, http://www.cottoncampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/CA-NEWS_-Vice-governor-beats-8-people-at-government-meeting-in-Uzbekistan.pdf (accessed 20 September 2013).

[3] Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights, Chronicle of Forced Labour, Issue 2, August 26, 2013, http://uzbekgermanforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/2-Cotton-Chronicle-2-20132.pdf (accessed 20 September 2013).

[4] Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights, Chronicle of Forced Labour, Issue 3, September 9, 2013, http://uzbekgermanforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/3-Cotton-Chronicle-2013.pdf (accessed 20 September 2013).

[5] Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights, Chronicle of Forced Labour, Issue 4, September 19, 2013, http://uzbekgermanforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/4-Cotton-Chronicle-2013.pdf (accessed 23 September 2013).

[6] Initiative Group of Independent Human Rights Defenders of Uzbekistan (IGIHRDU), 16 September 2013, http://ca-news.org/news:1080594/ (accessed 16 September 2013).

[7] Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights, Chronicle of Forced Labour, Issue 4, September 19, 2013, http://uzbekgermanforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/4-Cotton-Chronicle-2013.pdf (accessed 23 September 2013).

[8] Ibid.

Uzbekistan: Freelance journalist and human rights activist Sergey Naumov is missing

On 21 September 2013, at approximately 19:00 hours, a journalist and human rights activist Sergey Naumov phoned a colleague and said that he was detained by police. His location is still not known. The case of Sergey Naumov requires an urgent intervention by the international community.

Our colleague, a freelance journalist and human rights activist Sergey Naumov, who lives in the city of Urgench of the Khorezm Region of Uzbekistan is missing. His phones are not responding, his neighbours and friends have not seen him for the last two days.

On 21 September 2013, at about 19:00 hours, Naumov phoned a colleague and said that he was detained by the police department. Where, by whom, and why he was arrested, is still unknown. Hayitboy Yakubov, the head of the Khorezm Region human rights organisation “Najot”, requested information from the Urgench City Police Department and the local police department where Naumov is registered as a resident, the Persecutor’s Office and the National Security Service of Uzbekistan. Everywhere, he was told that Sergei Naumov does not appear in the lists of detainees.

Sergey Naumov

Sergey NAUMOV, date of birth 7 March 1963, a citizen of Uzbekistan.

He is:

– a freelance journalist, works in cooperation with international news agency “Fergana.Ru”, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, journal published by the Academy of Science of Uzbekistan “Ecological Safety and Civil Initiative” (“Fan” (Science) publishing house), and “Politzhurnal” (Moscow, Russia).

– the winner of the national contest for “Best online publication on a political issue”;

– the winner of the national on contest environmental journalism in the category “Environmental Protection” in 2005;

– the winner of the national contest “The UN Conventions on Ecology” in 2006;

– author of screenplay of film “07.07.07” about the ecological disaster in the Aral Sea region created in cooperation with “Wilton Films” (Britain) in 2007;

– a member of the filming crew of a FIDH film about М. Tadjibaeva, a human rights activist, in 2008;

– a member of the filming crew of an “Amnesty International” film about М. Tadjibaeva, a human rights activist, in 2008;

– co-author of the Report on the state of freedom of speech, expression and of the press inUzbekistan for the session of the UN Council on Human Rights under the UPR Procedure, December 2008;

– the winner of the national competition for the best coverage of the Uzbek-American relations in 2009;

Sergey Naumov is the author and a participant of the following projects in the field of development of the mass-media:

а) “Airwaves for businesswomen”, carried out by the Association of Businesswomen of the Khorezm Region under the Small Grants Programme of the Netherlands Embassy in Moscow, 1998;

b) “Promotion of Reproductive Health as a Factor in Poverty Reduction” executed by the Khorezm Region branch of the Uzbek Association of Reproductive Health under the grant from the World Bank, 2002;

c) three documentaries, “No one’s River”, “Waves of Sadness”, “Zarafshan – the pain of Bukhara”, filmed in the framework of the program “Support for public participation in the Central Asian Initiative on Sustainable Development”, funded by the European Union, 2005.

Naumov is also the author and a participant of the projects for:

d) Journalists’ Centre “Intercontact” (“Healthy City” – the Small Grants Programme of the Netherlands Embassy in Moscow; “SOS: Ecology!” funded by the Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia (CAREC);

e) the initiative group – “Dono” and the youth club “Nadejda” (Hope) funded by the Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia, 2001-2003.

* * *

The disappearance of Sergey Naumov is causing a particular concern, because he has been repeatedly threatened by the law enforcement agencies of Uzbekistan. These anonymous threats were repeated over the phone and the Internet. Naumov annoyed the Uzbek authorities most by his continuous  interest in the effects of forced labour, the environmental situation in the Aral Sea and the unlawful forced relocation of residents of the Urgench City. Sergei Naumov is a law-abiding person and enjoys the confidence of the large number of population.

The case of Sergey Naumov requires an urgent intervention of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Union Special Representative for Human Rights, the Special Rapporteur of the European Union for Central Asia and other international organisations, diplomats of democratic countries.

The Association for Human Rights in Central Asia (AHRCA) urges all interested parties, organisations and the media to draw attention to the fate of the journalist Sergey Naumov and make every effort to bring about his early release.

The Association for Human Rights in Central Asia (AHRCA) draws the attention of the international community to the fact that the lack of information on the whereabouts of Sergey Naumov is contrary to the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the commitments made by this country by ratification of the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Articles 9, 10, 14, 19, 26), the UN Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognised Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and the UN Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment (principles 1 2, 4, 6, 12, 21).

The Association for Human Rights in Central Asia (AHRCA) emphasises that our colleague is in danger and in need of support.

Leading Uzbek Human Rights Organizations Call on the World Bank to Investigate Loan Supporting the Agricultural Sector in Uzbekistan, which is Underpinned by Forced Labour

Formal Complaint Filed with the World Bank Inspection Panel

(Washington, DC) – September 5, Association for Human Rights in Central Asia, Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan “Ezgulik” and Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights filed a formal complaint to the World Bank Inspection Panel. These organizations, representing Uzbek citizens who have suffered under the state-organized system of forced labour cotton production, requested an investigation of the World Bank’s Rural Enterprise Support Project Phase II (RESP-II). The Bank has failed to prevent World Bank funds from contributing to government orchestrated forced labour, stated the three leading Uzbek human rights organizations.

“The World Bank should be supporting sustainable rural development in Uzbekistan, beginning with the eradication of forced labour,” said Nadejda Atayeva, Association for Human Rights in Central Asia (AHRCA). “World Bank lending to the Uzbek agriculture sector has only facilitated the continued suffering by our children, students, and adults, who are forced to produce cotton each year,” said Umida Niyazova, Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights (UGF).

For decades, the government of Uzbekistan under President Islam Karimov, who has ruled since 1989, has forced millions of children, teachers, public servants and private sector employees to pick cotton under appalling conditions. Those who refuse are expelled from school, fired from their jobs, denied public benefits or worse. Authorities detain and harass activists seeking to monitor the situation. During the Spring 2013, authorities mobilised children and adults to plough and weed, and authorities beat farmers for planting onions instead of cotton. In August, authorities initiated preparations to coercively mobilize nurses, teachers and other public sector workers to harvest cotton.

The World Bank approved funding for the RESP-II in 2008 and 2012. While World Bank Management has repeatedly stated that the Project’s aim is to diversify agricultural production, it is not possible for the World Bank to finance agricultural projects without supporting the state-order system of cotton production, which is underpinned by forced labour.

“The fact remains that all farmers are required to fulfill annual quotas of cotton production in order to maintain the lease of their land, their livelihood,” said Ms. Niyazova, UGF.  “In several meetings, the World Bank has been unable to identify any action taken to ensure that its loans are not supporting the cotton sector and its forced-labour system of production.”

As the complaint details, the World Bank ignored the issue of state-sponsored forced labour in the RESP-II Social Assessment, carried out prior to the project, and has since failed to conduct due diligence to ensure that the project does not contribute to this problem. The only assessment of social impacts of RESP-II was wrought with internal contradictions and outright falsehoods. The Bank continues to assert that it is addressing the problem of “child labor” through educating farmers, ignoring the facts that the system of forced labour is organized by the government, not the farmers.

Attempts to engage the World Bank were met with dismissals of the concern, denials of responsibility, and refusal to share basic information. Instead of conducting desperately needed human rights due diligence, the Bank listed as a risk associated with the project, “[e]xternal NGOs may continue raising child labor issue with the Bank” as a risk associated with the project.

“The only clear message to the Uzbek people from the World Bank has been ignoring our rights,” stated Ms. Atayeva, AHRCA. “We demand that the Inspection Panel immediately investigate the facts relating to the RESP-II project.”

The complaint is available online at: http://uzbekgermanforum.org/human-rights-organizations-call-on-the-world-bank-to-reevaluate-funding-in-uzbekistan/

CONTACTS:
          In Germany, for Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights, Umida Niyazova, +49-17687-532684, umida.niyazova@uzbekgermanforum.org (English, Russian, Uzbek)
          In France, for Association Human Rights in Central Asia, Nadejda Atayeva, +33.61.746.1963, n.atayeva@gmail.com (Uzbek, Russian, French)
          In United States, for Cotton Campaign, Matthew Fischer-Daly, +1.347.266.1351, cottoncampaigncoordinator@gmail.com(English, Spanish)

Statement from the Cotton Campaign on the Start of the Cotton Harvest in Uzbekistan

The 2013 cotton harvest is underway in Uzbekistan. The Uzbek Cotton Industry Association “Uzkhlopkoprom” estimatesa total harvest of 3.35 million tons, making Uzbekistan the 6th largest cotton producer and 2nd largest cotton exporter in the world. Yet Uzbek citizens continue to suffer human rights abuses under the state-controlled cotton industry.

We are pleased that this year the International Labour Organization (ILO) expects to deploy teams to Uzbekistan to monitor during the harvest. We remain concerned that the ILO monitors will be accompanied by representatives of the Government of Uzbekistan and the official state union and employers’ organizations, whose presence will have a chilling effect on Uzbek citizens’ willingness to speak openly with the ILO monitors. Therefore, we encourage the ILO to make every effort possible to obtain independent information, publicly report all findings and any interference by Uzbek Government, and validate the findings and monitoring process with the International Trade Union Confederation and International Organisation of Employers.

Since 2010 the tripartite ILO Committee on the Application of Standards has recommended a high-level, tripartite ILO monitoring mission. Such a mission would include tripartite oversight, independent civil-society participation, a mandate to address forced labour and child labour and public reporting. While the ILO monitors will not have unfettered access this year, we will support the ILO in their effort.

Cotton production in Uzbekistan is a state orchestrated forced-labour system. The Government of Uzbekistan forces over a million children, teachers, public servants and private sector employees to pick cotton under appalling conditions each year. Those who refuse are expelled from school, fired from their jobs, and denied public benefits or worse. The Government harasses and detains citizens seeking to monitor the situation. During the Spring 2013, Government authorities mobilised children and adults to plough and weed, and authorities beatfarmers for planting onions instead of cotton. In August, authorities initiated preparations to coercively mobilize nurses, teachers and other public sector workers to harvest cotton.

Reports from independent Uzbek citizens who document the cotton harvest will be posted regularly at:

http://uzbekgermanforum.org/category/cotton-chronicle/ and

http://www.cottoncampaign.org/reports/.

The Cotton Campaign:

Advocates for Public Interest Law

American Apparel and Footwear Association

American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations

American Federation of Teachers

Anti-Slavery International

Aquinas Associates

Association for Human Rights in Central Asia

Calvert Investments

Catholic Health East

Child Labor Coalition

Domini Social Investments

European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights

Expert Working Group

Freedom House

Gonggam Human Rights Law Foundation

Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan “Ezgulik”

Human Rights Watch

International Labor Rights Forum

Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate –

Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Office

National Consumers League

National Retail Federation

Open Society Foundations

Responsible Sourcing Network

Retail Industry Leaders Association

Sisters of St Francis of Philadelphia

Solidarity Center

Stop the Traffik Australia

Synod of Victoria and Tasmania, Uniting Church in Australia

United States Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel

Uzbek German Forum for Human Rights

Walden Asset Management

Uzbekistan: A Happy Birthday to Murad Djuraev! We wish you good health and freedom

On 5 September 2013 Uzbek political prisoner Murad Djuaev turned 61. He has spent 19 years of his life in prison being convicted on trumped-up charges. 

Murad Djuraev

Murad Djuraev was born in 1952 in the town of Mubarak of Kashkadarya region. He is ethnic Turkmen, married and has three children. He graduated from the Tashkent Polytechnic Institute. Between 1989 and 1992 he worked as the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the City Council of the town of Mubarek. Between 1991-1992 he was a member of Parliament of Uzbekistan.

He was accused of conspiring with the leader of the opposition political party "Erk" Muhammad Salih. According to the investigators, they wanted to organise a violent seizure of power.

Murad Djuraev has been in prison sense 18 September 1994.

Crisis on Radio “Liberty” leads to restriction of freedom of expression in Central Asia

TO: Mr Kevin Klose,

Acting President, Radio Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Dear Mr Kevin Klose,

We are concerned about the current situation at the Radio “Liberty” services, which broadcast to the countries of Central Asia. The materials of the Kazakh and Turkmen services of RFE/RL duplicate the information contained in the government press. The time of broadcasting on short waves to Uzbekistan has been reduced by half; labour rights of the Kazakh and Tajik correspondents of RFE/RL are violated.

Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) – is a mass media outlet, whose mission is to be a channel for democratic values. However, cases of the violation of the rights of the employees and a step back from international standards of freedom of mass media, which we see in the activity of some of the Radio Liberty services, cause resentment among journalist and human rights community of Central Asia.

Authoritarian leaders in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are not going to give up their positions. In the beginning of May 2013 Rovshan Yazmukhamedov, an RFE/RL correspondent in Turkmenistan, was arrested. It is rather disturbing that at first the leadership of the editorial board suppressed the fact of his arrest. Only four days after the arrest, owing to the persistence of the employees who reminded the Director of the Turkmen service M. Tahir about the death of the journalist Muradova, the director dared to announce publicly that Yazmukhamedov was detained. Journalists’ right are being violated in Tajikistan as well. Recently, Abdukayum Kayumzod, an RFE/RL correspondent in Tajikistan, was refused an accreditation.

Attack on the rights of journalists is taking place in Tajikistan as well: Tajik correspondent of RFE/RL Abdukayum Kayumzod was refused accreditation. Despite the fact that Kayumzod has worked for 12 years in RFE/RL and had a permanent contract with the employer and support of the accreditation is a responsibility of the employer, the leadership of the Tajik service of the Radio unilaterally terminated the labour contract with Kayumzod and left him in limbo. Correspondent referred to court for protection of his labour and professional rights. This is not the first case: in 2012 Gulnora Ravshan, correspondent of the Uzbek service of RFE/RL covering Tajikistan was forced to leave the country with her underage children due to refusal of accreditation and personal threats to her. However, the leadership of the respective Radio service did not take effective measures to protect the rights of its correspondent.

In conjunction with the fact that the leadership of the Tajik RFE/RL service systematically violates the labour rights of journalists, six media organisations and one political party of Tajikistan decided to abstain from collaboration with the Tajik service of RFE/RL. The boycott will continue unless the correspondent of the service Abdukayum Kayumzod is reinstated in his former job via court decision.

Analysis of the materials of the Kazakh service of RFE/RL shows that the crisis in the editorial staff has achieved its highest point. Since 2008, it has been broadcasting mainly via Internet; currently the air broadcasting has entirely stopped. Initiators of the reform did not take into consideration the fact that in the remote districts of Kazakhstan and other countries of Central Asia there is no access to Internet and people experience power cuts. Internet services are not accessible for many people even in urban areas.

Materials of the Kazakh editorial board do not always reflect the situation in Kazakhstan accurately. They do not touch upon acute political topics and virtually duplicate the government press.

The Kazakh service of RFE/RL was actively collaborating with an Astana-based NGO “WikiBilim», an organisation, which administers the Kazakh language section of Wikipedia at the expense of the government. This looks like a cynical political promotion of the authoritarian government of Kazakhstan. Collaboration with the Astana-based NGO “WikiBilim” started right after the shooting of the peaceful demonstration in Zhanaozen (Western Kazakhstan) in December 2011. The Kazakh service of RFE/RL publishes materials agreeable to the authorities and then Wikipedia uses them as “reliable sources”.

The Kazakh editorial board routinely suppresses information, which is uncomfortable for the Kazakhstan authorities. Thus, it ignored the attempted kidnapping of an emigrant Ainur Kurbanov by the National Security Committee during the protest in Moscow in December 2012. However, the Kazakh RFE/RL service widely covers the official government events and creates a positive image of Nursultan Nazarbaev and his authoritarian regime.

At the same time leaders of the Kazakhstan opposition are discredited. The example is the recent interview with the public figure Bulat Atabaev (“Fear defeated by laughter” of 3 March 2013) and Karlygash Zhakiyanova (“Karlygash Zakiyanova. Interview from Bostom” of 6 May 2013).

Since 2010 a lot of materials have been published on the Kazakh service site propagating Kazakh radical nationalism and chauvinism, openly insulting Russians, Uzbeks, Uighurs and Chinese. For example, in the article «Өзбекстанда қамалған қазақ сотталып кетті» (“A Kazakh arrested in Uzbekistan has been convicted”). Uzbekistan is presented as a country where Kazakhs are imprisoned for being Kazakhs. Photos do not correspond to the text. Readers’ comments to this article contain outright insults towards Uzbeks although the moderator should not have allowed that. Thus, the editors are abusing the trust of the American leadership, which physically cannot review the content of the site.

This is not all. “New Liberty” says: “Promises of the President of the corporation Radio Liberty Steve Corn to conquer new audience turned into the appearance of the ugly gutter press, obscene, vulgar, and racist. Since August 2012, on the internet site of the Kazakh Radio service “Liberty” a new video project has been launched. At first glance, it looks like a satirical overview of clumsy amateur video records or faulty professional video clips, but in fact this is a humiliation of the readership of the site and morals. Executives of this video project are young Kazakh actors Nurmakhan Mukhauly, Nurjan Erkinuly, Abyl Esentai, Makhambet Beibitshilik base their creativity on obscenity, racism, homophobia, promotion of dirty sex and low quality gutter press”.

Mr Kevin Klose,

Developments at the Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) touch upon the interests of all audience of the radio: be it a lonely mother of a prisoner or a student or a correspondent of your radio working in the field.

Lately, fundamental rights of the citizens of Central Asia are being violated under the pretext of “global security”. However, this important problem is directly related to the human rights and liberties.

Access to reliable information is of critical importance to the audience of Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) to maintain its trust to the Western democracies and to the American democracy, in particular.

Therefore, we kindly and earnestly ask You:

– to create an independent commission to examine the situation at Kazakh, Tajik, Turkmen, and Uzbek services of Radio Liberty in order to objectively evaluate the extent of observance of the principles of freedom of expression, professional rights and journalist ethics, Charter of RFE/RL. It is necessary to find materials on the RFE/RL sites, which do not correspond to the said criteria, for which it is necessary to engage experts with the knowledge of relevant languages;

– to conduct objective investigation and find out why multiple complaints of the employees of the Kazakh service of RFE/RL against its director Edige Magauin and his deputy Galym Bokash also sent to the former President of RFE/RL Steven Korn, to BBG and to the permanent revision service of the Department of State have been ignored;

– to see to it that labour rights of the employees of RFE/RL are respected and to review the decisions on selective dismissal of a number of correspondents (Kazakh service: Saida Kalkulova, Nazira Darimbet, Sagat Batyrkhan, Ukulyai Bestai, Sultankhan Jussip; Tajik service: Abdukayum Kayumzod; Turkmen service: Nazar Khudaiberdy Jakhan, Guvanch Gere, Oguljamal Yazlieva, Murat Nurgeldy);

– to pay attention to the fact that Kazakh and Turkmen RFE/RL services frequently  duplicate unreliable information obtained from official governmental sources;

– to objectively evaluate the extent, to which the principles of the freedom of expression and journalist ethics are observed by the services broadcasting to Central Asia, whose main objective is to provide alternative information to the audience;

With respect,

Nadejda Atayeva, President, Association for Human Rights in Central Asia, France;

Vyacheslav Mamedov, Chair, Non-governmental Organisation “Democratic Civil Union of Turkmenistan”;

Nouriddin Karshiboyev, Chairman, National Association of Independent Mass Media of Tajikistan (NANSMIT), Tajikistan;

Arif Yunus, Candidate of Science (PhD, History), Head of the Conflictology and Migration Department of the Institute of Peace and Democracy, Expert of the International Network of Ethnology Monitoring and Early Conflict Prevention, and of the Independent Research Centre on migration in CIS and the Baltic States; expert of the Association for Human Rights in Central Asia;

Lyudmila Kozlovskaya, President, Open Dialogue Foundation, Poland;

Sergey Ignatyev, Representative in the USA, Association for Human Rights in Central Asia;

Dmitry Belomestnov, Representative in Russia, Association for Human Rights in Central Asia;

Dinara Khakimova, Representative in Sweden, Association for Human Rights in Central Asia;

Alisher Abidov, Representative in Norway, Association for Human Rights in Central Asia;

Leyla Yunus, Director, Institute of Peace and Democracy in Azerbaijan, Laureate of the International Theodore Hacker Prize for honesty and political courage;

           

RFE/RL listeners added their signatures:

Emin Eminov, Sweden

Nazira Abzalova, Sweden

Aliya Alieva, Sweden

Shakhnoza Nоirova, Sweden

Rokhea Rok, Sweden

Saida Babaeva, Sweden

Tamila Rakhimova, Sweden

Nujin Tasci, Sweden

Arslan Aliev, Sweden

Fuad Babaev, Sweden

Arsen Aliev, Sweden

Yuriy Moroz, Sweden

Peri Mamedova, Sweden

Esma Arfaoui, Sweden

Lyudmila Trushinskaya, Sweden

Vasif Budaqov, Sweden

Feruza Isametdinova, Sweden

Anfisa Dumas, Sweden

Alisher Ravshanov, Sweden

Maria Lindbarg, Sweden

Mаrina Eriksson, Sweden

Aresn Aliev, Sweden

Gafar Arslanov, Sweden

Dilshod Mamedov, Sweden

Diana Kolchukova, Sweden

Elshan Mamedogli, Sweden

Emin Gurbanov, Sweden

Lina Danilova, Sweden

• Collection of signatures is continuing