No Sign of Change on Media Freedom
No Sign of Change on Media Freedom
Last week’s media forum in Uzbekistan, conceived and stage-managed by the government, was merely the pretence of a dialogue on freedom of speech, NBCentralAsia observers say.
On June 9-10, a conference entitled “Media Freedom in Modern Democratic Society” took place in Tashkent.
The original plan was to hold a media seminar in conjunction with the European Union, but this was postponed from late May, rescheduled for the June 9-10 date and then called off. The substitute was a government-organised event which naturally portrayed the regime in an entirely positive light.
A statement issued by international human rights groups called it “a sad farce and an empty shadow of the European Union’s original intention to hold a meaningful meeting”.
Independent websites reported that no journalists critical of the Uzbek government took part in the event. The reporters present came from the state news agency UzA, the National Radio and Television Company and the Uzbekistan Today weekly.
Although state-run media reported that the conference was attended by experts and journalists from 18 countries, foreign correspondents and human rights activists were not invited.
The one exception was Miklos Haraszti, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media.
The foreign media organisations which sent participants are not in the forefront of media freedom issues. They include the business magazine Korea Post, Al-Masayah from Egypt and Al-Alamiyah from Kuwaiti, and a small-circulation French publication called La Lettre de Bastille Republique Nations.
International advocacy organisations that had been invited to the original, EU-sponsored media freedom event dismissed the Uzbek conference as a sham.
A joint statement issued by International Crisis Group, Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders and the Open Society Institute was sharply critical of the Uzbek government’s record on media freedom. It urged Tashkent to end all forms of censorship and persecution of journalists, allow foreign reporters back into the country and release individuals imprisoned for their work as journalists.
Shortly before the media conference, on June 7, police arrested Salijon Abdurahmanov, an independent journalist and human rights activist coming from Karakalpakstan in the north of Uzbekistan. He was accused of possessing illegal drugs.
During the week of the media conference, government TV channels repeatedly broadcast a one-hour programme attacking Radio Freedom/Radio Free Europe’s Uzbek Service, accusing its reporters of engaging in “anti-state activity”.
Media-watchers say the situation on the ground is getting steadily worse.
“This conference should have marked a real breakthrough for freedom of speech in Uzbekistan,” said one of the few foreign correspondents left in the country. “What we got instead was a renewed conviction that it’s naïve to engage in dialogue with Uzbekistan about freedom of speech, or to expect any improvements.”
A media-watcher in Tashkent said the conference was designed to cover up the fact that there is no freedom of speech at all in Uzbekistan. The organisers made sure they did not invite anyone who might raise concerns about lack of freedom or about the tight control the government exerts over the media.
He added, “It’s noteworthy that the conference received little coverage in the Uzbek press. The authorities clearly believe that it’s best for citizens and journalists to remain unaware and that they don’t start thinking it’s possible to discuss free speech issues in Uzbekistan.”
An independent journalist in Uzbekistan argued that although Tashkent is reviving relations with the United States and Europe, which deteriorated sharply after the Andijan shootings of May 2005, the government has clearly decided that it does not have to relax controls over the media.
(NBCA is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service is resuming, covering only Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan for the moment.)
On June 9-10, a conference entitled “Media Freedom in Modern Democratic Society” took place in Tashkent.
The original plan was to hold a media seminar in conjunction with the European Union, but this was postponed from late May, rescheduled for the June 9-10 date and then called off. The substitute was a government-organised event which naturally portrayed the regime in an entirely positive light.
A statement issued by international human rights groups called it “a sad farce and an empty shadow of the European Union’s original intention to hold a meaningful meeting”.
Independent websites reported that no journalists critical of the Uzbek government took part in the event. The reporters present came from the state news agency UzA, the National Radio and Television Company and the Uzbekistan Today weekly.
Although state-run media reported that the conference was attended by experts and journalists from 18 countries, foreign correspondents and human rights activists were not invited.
The one exception was Miklos Haraszti, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media.
The foreign media organisations which sent participants are not in the forefront of media freedom issues. They include the business magazine Korea Post, Al-Masayah from Egypt and Al-Alamiyah from Kuwaiti, and a small-circulation French publication called La Lettre de Bastille Republique Nations.
International advocacy organisations that had been invited to the original, EU-sponsored media freedom event dismissed the Uzbek conference as a sham.
A joint statement issued by International Crisis Group, Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders and the Open Society Institute was sharply critical of the Uzbek government’s record on media freedom. It urged Tashkent to end all forms of censorship and persecution of journalists, allow foreign reporters back into the country and release individuals imprisoned for their work as journalists.
Shortly before the media conference, on June 7, police arrested Salijon Abdurahmanov, an independent journalist and human rights activist coming from Karakalpakstan in the north of Uzbekistan. He was accused of possessing illegal drugs.
During the week of the media conference, government TV channels repeatedly broadcast a one-hour programme attacking Radio Freedom/Radio Free Europe’s Uzbek Service, accusing its reporters of engaging in “anti-state activity”.
Media-watchers say the situation on the ground is getting steadily worse.
“This conference should have marked a real breakthrough for freedom of speech in Uzbekistan,” said one of the few foreign correspondents left in the country. “What we got instead was a renewed conviction that it’s naïve to engage in dialogue with Uzbekistan about freedom of speech, or to expect any improvements.”
A media-watcher in Tashkent said the conference was designed to cover up the fact that there is no freedom of speech at all in Uzbekistan. The organisers made sure they did not invite anyone who might raise concerns about lack of freedom or about the tight control the government exerts over the media.
He added, “It’s noteworthy that the conference received little coverage in the Uzbek press. The authorities clearly believe that it’s best for citizens and journalists to remain unaware and that they don’t start thinking it’s possible to discuss free speech issues in Uzbekistan.”
An independent journalist in Uzbekistan argued that although Tashkent is reviving relations with the United States and Europe, which deteriorated sharply after the Andijan shootings of May 2005, the government has clearly decided that it does not have to relax controls over the media.
(NBCA is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service is resuming, covering only Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan for the moment.)
