UN Human Rights Chief Misses Out Uzbekistan from Regional Tour
UN Human Rights Chief Misses Out Uzbekistan from Regional Tour
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights will not be taking in Uzbekistan on her trip to Central Asia. NBCentralAsia experts say that regardless of the reason why commissioner Louise Arbour has taken this decision, it is likely to prove damaging to Uzbekistan’s international reputation.
Arbour began a familiarisation trip to Central Asia on April 22, and is due to visit all the countries in the region except Uzbekistan before flying home on May 4.
Explaining why Uzbekistan was not on her itinerary on April 25, Arbour said the authorities in Tashkent had said that they would be unable to able to meet her as the timing was inconvenient.
NBCentralAsia experts say that whatever the reason, the omission of Uzbekistan could dent the country’s international image even further.
According to Tashkent-based human rights activist and political scientist Tashpulat Yuldashev, Uzbekistan probably refused to see the human rights commissioner.
“When a letter indicating that the UN commissioner wished to visit was sent out, all the other Central Asian countries replied positively, while Uzbekistan didn’t. This is why the commissioner is shunning Uzbekistan on her trip,” he said.
Yuldashev said that when international officials like the UN commissioner visit, the authorities have to be ready to provide access to local human rights activists, the media, and members of the public, including prison inmates.
Analyst Bahtiyor Isabek says it is not in Uzbekistan’s interests to refuse to see the commissioner so close to the May 14 meeting at which European Union members will discuss the possibility of lifting sanctions against it. The EU first imposed the sanctions after the authorities refused to allow an international investigation into the May 2005 violence in Andijan, when Uzbek government troops opened fire on a demonstration, killing several hundred civilians.
It was Arbour who issued the original report calling for an investigation, and Isabek believes she is avoiding Tashkent highlight the poor state of human rights in the country.
An NBCentralAsia regional expert, who wished to remain anonymous, agreed that Arbour was snubbing Uzbekistan.
But unlike other analysts, he argued that the Uzbek leadership had actually wanted her to visit, and had made efforts to create a positive atmosphere for that to happen, for example by extending the accreditation of the Tashkent director of Human Rights Watch, which had initially been refused on April 13.
“Tashkent was not against Louise Arbour’s visit,” he said. “On April 21, Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov received Human Rights Watch director Andrea Berg, and extended her accreditation for three more months.”
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
Arbour began a familiarisation trip to Central Asia on April 22, and is due to visit all the countries in the region except Uzbekistan before flying home on May 4.
Explaining why Uzbekistan was not on her itinerary on April 25, Arbour said the authorities in Tashkent had said that they would be unable to able to meet her as the timing was inconvenient.
NBCentralAsia experts say that whatever the reason, the omission of Uzbekistan could dent the country’s international image even further.
According to Tashkent-based human rights activist and political scientist Tashpulat Yuldashev, Uzbekistan probably refused to see the human rights commissioner.
“When a letter indicating that the UN commissioner wished to visit was sent out, all the other Central Asian countries replied positively, while Uzbekistan didn’t. This is why the commissioner is shunning Uzbekistan on her trip,” he said.
Yuldashev said that when international officials like the UN commissioner visit, the authorities have to be ready to provide access to local human rights activists, the media, and members of the public, including prison inmates.
Analyst Bahtiyor Isabek says it is not in Uzbekistan’s interests to refuse to see the commissioner so close to the May 14 meeting at which European Union members will discuss the possibility of lifting sanctions against it. The EU first imposed the sanctions after the authorities refused to allow an international investigation into the May 2005 violence in Andijan, when Uzbek government troops opened fire on a demonstration, killing several hundred civilians.
It was Arbour who issued the original report calling for an investigation, and Isabek believes she is avoiding Tashkent highlight the poor state of human rights in the country.
An NBCentralAsia regional expert, who wished to remain anonymous, agreed that Arbour was snubbing Uzbekistan.
But unlike other analysts, he argued that the Uzbek leadership had actually wanted her to visit, and had made efforts to create a positive atmosphere for that to happen, for example by extending the accreditation of the Tashkent director of Human Rights Watch, which had initially been refused on April 13.
“Tashkent was not against Louise Arbour’s visit,” he said. “On April 21, Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov received Human Rights Watch director Andrea Berg, and extended her accreditation for three more months.”
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
