Corporate report

Uzbekistan - in-year update December 2015

Published 21 April 2016

Overall, significant concerns about the human rights situation in Uzbekistan remain, though there have been some positive developments over the past six months.

In July, the UN Human Rights Committee considered Uzbekistan’s 4th Periodic Report on implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Committee raised a number of outstanding concerns including in areas such as non-discrimination and gender equality, freedom of expression, access to justice, and the rule of law and torture. It found that Uzbekistan had not done enough to address these since it underwent a Universal Periodic Review in 2013. Uzbekistan’s presentation can be found here.

In August, the EU concluded a €9.7m Criminal Justice Reform project that started in September 2011. It achieved its objectives of building Uzbek authorities’ capacity in implementing the rule of law, and increasing public and professional awareness of best practice on detention procedures. The UK supported this project through funding and expertise.

The 2015 cotton harvest saw progress under the terms of the Decent Work Country Programme for 2014-2016, agreed with Uzbekistan in 2014 to support implementation of International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 105 on Forced Labour. The ILO monitored the harvest with funding from the World Bank. Ten teams of monitors visited 1,100 sites. They interviewed 10,000 people across 10 of the 12 provinces in Uzbekistan, which represented 80% of all land used for cotton cultivation. The World Bank published its findings following the monitoring on 20 November. This report concluded that the use of children in the cotton harvest has become rare and sporadic, and that the authorities have taken measures to reduce the incidence of child labour and make it socially unacceptable. The World Bank report also made clear that large-scale mobilisation of adult labour remains widespread, and that the risk of forced labour remains. Uzbekistan’s Cabinet of Ministers has agreed to address this within the framework of the government’s cooperation with the World Bank and ILO. The ILO is expected to publish its own findings shortly. There were reports of harassment of members of civil society who were conducting their own monitoring of the cotton harvest as part of an independent feedback mechanism implemented by the ILO.

In October 2015, the UK, with EU partners, raised with the Uzbek Ministry of Justice difficulties arising from new regulations that affect the operations of NGOs working in Uzbekistan. These oblige NGOs to seek official permission to organise activities, including for each individual event. This has resulted in a number of NGOs not being able to carry out project activity.

The Uzbek authorities refused permission for a project being implemented by an NGO and funded by the FCO Human Rights and Democracy Programme. This was designed to support the British Embassy’s existing work in preventing torture and to ensure proper ratification of the UN Convention Against Torture, as well as to help Uzbekistan accede to the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture. The UK continues to raise with the Uzbek authorities the need to address these issues through Uzbekistan’s National Action Plan.

On 4 November 2015, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) Committee considered Uzbekistan’s 5th Periodic Report on implementation of Uzbekistan’s commitments under the Convention. A number of outstanding concerns were raised, which included the need to ensure that all aspects of domestic legislation designed to prevent discrimination against women are compatible with the Convention. The Committee also noted that Uzbekistan had adopted in 2015 (i) a National Action Plan to prevent human trafficking and (ii) a National Action Plan to implement the CEDAW Committee’s 2010 observations. The CEDAW report and Uzbekistan’s presentation can be found here.

On 12 November, Murad Juraev, former Member of Parliament, was released after 21 years in detention. He was sentenced in 1995 but subsequently received additional sentences which had lengthened his prison term. We had previously raised Mr Juraev’s case with the Uzbek authorities bilaterally and through the EU.

On 24 November, the EU and Uzbekistan held their annual Human Rights Dialogue in Tashkent. The UK participated in these discussions, which included issues related to treatment of detainees, freedom of expression, freedom of association, and women’s rights. While welcoming progress towards the elimination of the use of child labour, the EU encouraged further steps to address the issue of forced labour. The EU called on Uzbekistan to free all imprisoned human rights defenders, and stressed that it remains seriously concerned by reports of poor detention conditions and the mistreatment or torture of detainees.

Between July and December, there continued to be reports in internet media and by NGOs of actions by law enforcement authorities against individuals engaged in religious activities outside state-sanctioned structures.

Throughout the period, the British Embassy in Tashkent continued support for project and programme work as part of continuing UK activity designed to help secure incremental progress on human rights and good governance. One example was a project that was implemented through UNESCO from November to December. It helped to support freedom of expression by training Uzbek journalists and media professionals in raising awareness of the links between the environment and good governance.