Uzbekistan - Country of Concern: latest update, 31 March 2014
Updated 21 January 2015
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Although there were some positive developments over the past three months, we continue to have significant concerns about the human rights situation in Uzbekistan.
In February, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) published its Report of the Committee of Experts (CoE) on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations. The entry on Uzbekistan was based on ILO monitoring of the 2013 cotton harvest. It noted that the monitoring mission had reported that forced child labour did not appear to have been used on a systematic basis in Uzbekistan to harvest cotton in 2013. However, the mission had noted that, while the application of the law not to engage children under 18 years of age in the cotton harvest seemed to be strengthening, there remained gaps in practice. The CoE urged the government of Uzbekistan to pursue its efforts to ensure the complete elimination of the use of compulsory labour of public and private sector workers, as well as students, in cotton production.
Following the presidential amnesty announced at the end of December 2013, Khasan Choriev (father of the founder of the independent Birdamlik movement), Isak Abdullaev (author of several critical articles about Uzbek President Islam Karimov), and human rights defenders Nematjon Siddikov and Turaboy Djurabaev, were released from prison in January. Khasan Choriev has since died. Human rights organisations had raised concerns about all of these cases.
In January, the Uzbek human rights organisation Ezgulik issued a press release saying that its representatives had visited prisoners Dilmurod Saidov, A’zam Turgunov (both human rights defenders) and Salijon Abdurakhmanov, an independent journalist. Human rights defenders were also able to visit Murad Djuraev, an Erk party (opposition party campaigning for democracy) member and former member of the Supreme Council of Uzbekistan, whose jail term was extended for a fifth time, for a further three years, in December 2012. We, and our international partners, have raised the cases of these individuals over many years; and the EU Special Representative for Central Asia, Patrizia Flor, did so during her visit to Uzbekistan in January. These visits are a positive development and provided welcome information on the welfare of the four detainees.
However, challenges in relation to trials and detention remain. These include restrictions on civil society attending trials and defendants’ lack of access to legal advice. There are concerns about the use of Article 221 of the Uzbek Criminal Code, which allows for sentences to be extended if prison rules are violated. Mistreatment and torture of detainees continue to be reported, for example in the case of Asrorjon Isajonov who, according to media reports in February, is close to death having been subject to torture over a sustained period.