No. 138 y July 2007 The EU and Uzbekistan: Introduction Where to go from here? In 2005, following the suppression of the Andijon uprising, the European Union, alone among world Michael Hall powers, took a necessary and principled stance towards the regime of Uzbekistan’s President Islom Karimov. A Umida Niyazova. An independent human rights visa ban was imposed on officials believed to be activist who had previously worked for a number of involved in the indiscriminate killing of mostly international organisations, Niyazova, a 32-year-old unarmed civilians, an embargo was placed on arms single mother, was stopped by customs officials in shipments to Uzbekistan and high-level bilateral December 2006 at Tashkent’s airport while relations were frozen. Now, almost two years later, the returning from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where she was strain in relations appears to be taking its toll on both a trainee at the OSCE Academy. Customs officials sides. The Uzbek government has made tentative confiscated her laptop computer, on which, they overtures to the EU, and there are indications that some subsequently claimed, they had discovered in the EU are willing to accept such overtures at face “extremist materials.” Niyazova left Uzbekistan for value in the rush to normalise relations, often citing Kyrgyzstan, where she sought political asylum, but security and energy concerns, as well as ‘progress’ in then returned to Uzbekistan in January 2007, having the sphere of human rights. Unfortunately, arguments been told that the charges were dropped. She was that Uzbekistan can meaningfully contribute to immediately arrested and held incognito for several European security – of any kind – and that the Karimov days in Andijon before being returned to Tashkent, regime is willing to reform do not stand up to closer where she was charged with the smuggling of examination. While it is to be welcomed that Germany contraband, distribution of extremist materials and chose to make Central Asia a foreign policy priority illegal border crossing. After a closed two-day trial, during its Presidency of the EU in the first half of 2007, on 1 May 2007, Niyazova was convicted on all any normalisation of relations must be contingent not counts and sentenced to seven years in prison. on promises or cosmetic changes from Uzbekistan, but Following an international outcry, her sentence was on concrete measures taken to improve the lives of its changed to a three-year suspended sentence; the citizens. To accept anything less would be to commit a price for her freedom was Niyazova’s public grave disservice to ordinary citizens, and would be repentance and a denunciation of the activities of devastating to the EU’s credibility. international human rights organisations such as Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Dialogue with Uzbekistan Likely Isroil Kholdorov. A leader of the banned to be Dead-end opposition movement Erk (“Will”) in Andijon, As part of its efforts to improve its image in the EU, Kholdorov, 57, fled to Kyrgyzstan following the Uzbekistan in November 2006 agreed in principle to 2005 uprising and sought political asylum there. He begin a ‘dialogue’ with the EU on human rights, an continued his public denunciations of the Karimov agreement that has yet to yield any concrete results. regime, and is believed to have been kidnapped by Even as both sides talk of ‘dialogue’, the relentless Uzbek security agents and forcibly returned to persecution of human rights activists, independent Uzbekistan. On 19 February 2007, he was journalists and opposition supporters – both within the sentenced to six years in prison for, among other country and abroad – continues. As an illustration, let things, establishing an illegal group, illegal border us recount three recent cases. crossing and the distribution of extremist materials. Michael Hall is the Central Asia Project Director at the International Crisis Group (ICG) in Kyrgyzstan. CEPS Policy Briefs present concise, policy-oriented analyses of topical issues in European affairs, with the aim of interjecting the views of CEPS researchers into the policy-making process in a timely fashion. Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed are attributable only to the author in a personal capacity and not to any institution with which he is associated. Available for free downloading from the CEPS website (http://www.ceps.eu) y © Hall, 2007 Gulbahor Turayeva. A doctor and NGO activist although the time the EU’s experts were allowed to from Andijon, Turayeva, 40, was an eyewitness to spend in Andijon and the number of people they were the slaughter in Andijon and had repeatedly allowed to meet with in general were limited. There challenged the Uzbek government’s version of have been grudging acknowledgments from the Uzbek events. In January 2007, she was arrested while side that its forces may have made mistakes in their crossing the border from Kyrgyzstan, bringing with response to the uprising. And in October 2006, Andijon her materials published by the banned opposition governor Saydullo Begaliyev was fired by Karimov movement Erk (“Will”). She was sentenced to six himself, who stated that Begaliyev’s administration, by years in prison in April 2007 for slander, ignoring socio-economic problems in the province, was distributing threatening materials and infringing on partially to blame for the Andijon events. All the constitutional order. A further conviction for encouraging signs, perhaps, but progress on this front slander on 7 May resulted in a fine of roughly $518 has been stalled as well. The Uzbek government was being added to her sentence; initial reports were apparently reluctant to hold any further meetings, that her prison sentence was also almost doubled. reportedly announcing that the Andijon issue was, in As was the case with Niyazova, Turayeva’s their view, “closed.” A second meeting was eventually sentence was commuted to a three-year suspended held, yet also yielded no results; a planned third meeting sentence on 12 June 2007, after she also made a has yet to be scheduled. In the meantime, the Karimov humiliating public denunciation of her previous regime continues to insist – without offering any statements and of the statements of other foreign convincing evidence3 – that the Andijon events were the journalists regarding the Andijon events. work of terrorists with extensive foreign backing (including the alleged support of the US embassy in The release of Niyazova and Turayeva is, of course, to Tashkent, Western-funded NGOs and Western media be welcomed. At the same time, the fact that both have outlets such as the BBC). And acknowledgments along been arrested and convicted means that their freedom is the lines of ‘mistakes were made’ fall far short of still at great risk. In the meantime, there are continuing allowing a full-scale, unfettered independent inquiry concerns about the well-being of other detainees, such into the bloody events of May 2005. as human rights activist Mu’tabar Tojiboyeva, businessman and political activist Sanjar Umarov, and It is certainly significant that Karimov pointed to socio- independent journalist (and nephew of the president) economic concerns in his sacking of Begaliyev. What is Jamshid Karimov, all of whom are believed to have often overlooked, however, is that Begaliyev’s style of been severely mistreated in detention. Tojiboyeva and government was the rule, not the exception. Regional Karimov have been subjected to forced psychiatric administrators throughout Uzbekistan are appointed or hospitalisation. And Uzbekistan’s prisons remain full of removed at the behest of the president, and are fully thousands of other individuals unjustly arrested and aware that their political survival – and personal imprisoned – in often extremely inhumane conditions – freedom – depend on appeasing Karimov, with little or on a variety of politically-motivated charges. no attention given to the needs of the local population, to whom administrators are not in any way accountable. Niyazova, Kholdorov, Tojiboyeva, Umarov, Karimov, This is particularly the case in Uzbekistan’s cotton- and others like them are all victims of a regime that growing regions, where local administrators are under seems to view any independent activity – be it religious, massive pressure to see to it that government-set harvest political, economic or cultural in nature – as a potential quotas are met. threat. Those who dare step out of line face intimidation and harassment − including beatings by unknown With failure to meet quotas a common reason for their assailants1 − arrest on trumped-up charges, and dismissal, local administrators resort to whatever means perfunctory trials with apparently pre-determined they see as necessary. Large-scale forced labour with verdicts. And persecutions are not limited to Uzbekistan little or no compensation, physical intimidation – itself, as Kholdorov’s case indicates; since the Andijon including beatings – of farmers who fail to deliver, uprising, Uzbek refugees and asylum seekers in seizure of land from those who try to grow other crops Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Ukraine have been for subsistence or sale – all are commonplace. With the victims of kidnapping and illegal deportation.2 more and more young men leaving impoverished rural areas to seek work in Tashkent – or leaving Uzbekistan Similarly, Tashkent has done little to address the EU’s altogether – the burden falls increasingly on the women concerns about its handling of the Andijon uprising. and children left behind. As is the case with gas, the The Uzbek government did agree to allow a group of revenues from Uzbekistan’s cotton fibre exports – EU experts to visit Andijon in December 2006, perhaps as much as $1 billion per year – often vanish into off-budget accounts; again, it is thought to be the 1 For example, human rights activists Elena Urlaeva and Vasila Inoyatova were attacked in January and February 3 What evidence the Uzbek government has offered has been 2007, respectively. in the form of confessions from those accused of organising or 2 The Moscow-based human rights organisation ‘Memorial’ participating in the uprising.