ARCTIC OCEAN RUSSIA JAPAN KAZAKHSTAN NORTH MONGOLIA KOREA UZBEKISTAN SOUTH TURKMENISTAN KOREA KYRGYZSTAN TAJIKISTAN PACIFIC Jammu and AFGHANIS- Kashmir CHINA TAN OCEAN PAKISTAN TIBET Taiwan NEPAL BHUTAN BANGLADESH Hong Kong INDIA BURMA LAOS PHILIPPINES THAILAND VIETNAM CAMBODIA Andaman and Nicobar BRUNEI SRI LANKA Islands Bougainville PAPUA NEW MALAYSIA SOLOMON ISLANDS MALDIVES GUINEA SINGAPORE Borneo Sulawesi Wallis and Futuna (FR.) Sumatra INDONESIA TIMOR-LESTE FIJI ISLANDS French Polynesia (FR.) Java New Caledonia (FR.) INDIAN OCEAN AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND Asia and Oceania Jack Dentith, Emily Hong, Irwin Loy, Farah Mihlar, Daniel Openshaw, Jacqui Zalcberg Right: Uighurs in Kazakhstan picking fruit from Central a tree. Carolyn Drake/Panos. which affects the health of the most vulnerable people living in the region. In March, the Asian Asia Development Bank (ADB) reported that the shrinking of the Aral Sea and drying up of two Daniel Openshaw major rivers, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, would particularly affect Karakalpakstan – an inority groups live in some of the autonomous region of Uzbekistan, home to the poorest regions of Central Asia; majority of the country’s Karakalpak population, M Pamiris in Gorno-Badakhshan as highlighted in MRG’s 2012 State of the World’s Autonomous Province in Tajikistan; Uzbeks Minorities and Indigenous Peoples. in South Kazakhstan province; Karakalpaks in In an already poor region, climate change Uzbekistan’s Karakalpakstan region; and high is especially significantly affecting the most numbers of Uzbeks and Tajiks in Kyrgyzstan’s vulnerable. Most people in Karakalpakstan Ferghana Valley. Poverty has a direct impact depend on agriculture, so water shortages have on their health. The right to free health care is reduced farmers’ income and resulted in food enshrined in the constitutions of four of the five shortages and poor health through malnutrition. Central Asia states; Turkmenistan abolished free Overuse of pesticides has also polluted water health care in 2004. However, the reality is not supplies and caused health problems, such as as straightforward as reports are commonplace of kidney and liver disease, tuberculosis and cancer. bribes being necessary to gain access to Many people want to migrate due to poor health care. environmental conditions. Official health data – disaggregated by either Climate change and mismanagement of water ethnicity or gender – is not widely available in resources have also led to water shortages in the region, but some information is available southern Kyrgyzstan, home to many minorities, from international organizations. For example, a particularly Uzbeks, according to a 2012 report 2008 World Health Organization (WHO) report by the ADB. The ADB report highlights other found that inequity of access to mental health environmental problems in the region: glacier services was an issue for minorities in Kyrgyzstan melt in Tajikistan – the poorest country in the that should be addressed. region – which will reduce access to water, and The rate of new HIV infections continues to desertification in Kazakhstan. rise across Central Asia according to UNAIDS; in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan new infections Kazakhstan rose by 25 per cent between 2001 and 2011. Incumbent president Nursultan Nazarbaev and Drug resistant tuberculosis and malaria also his Nur Otan party won parliamentary elections disproportionately affect people living in in January with 80 per cent of the vote. The poverty or social exclusion, including minorities, Organization for Security and Cooperation according to the United Nations Development in Europe (OSCE) criticized the elections for Programme (UNDP). failing to meet democratic standards yet again. Prisoners are another population at risk of Two other political parties considered loyal contracting HIV and tuberculosis, or suffering to Nazarbaev also gained seats in parliament. from mental health problems and other problems Women continue to be under-represented in associated with drug use. This particularly affects government, with 27 of 77 seats in the lower minorities, given the high numbers of ethnic and house of parliament and 2 of 47 in the upper religious minorities among prison populations in house. Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. There are still very few ethnic minority Climate change is exacerbating the effects of representatives in senior government, which long-term mismanagement of water resources, could in part be because of language barriers. 120 Asia and Oceania State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2013 Although knowledge of Kazakh is not required sound more Kazakh. While offering substantial for government and civil service positions – positive rewards and glory for successful except for presidential candidates – non-Kazakh competitors, this practice reportedly led to speakers complain that Kazakh speakers are resentment towards ‘plastic’ Kazakhs, which favoured for government positions. could contribute to discrimination. Nazarbaev’s victory is seen to reflect a growing The situation for religious minorities Kazakh nationalism in the country. Under his deteriorated in 2012, following the adoption of a leadership, the creation of Kazakh-language new Religion Law in late 2011. The law compels schools and the conversion of some Russian- public organizations and religious groups to language schools to Kazakh reduced the overall register with the Ministry of Justice and regional number of Russian-only language schools. In authorities, and has been enforced through March, Nazarbaev called for fewer home-grown fines and imprisonment. For example, in East films to be made in non-Kazakh languages and to Kazakhstan members of an unregistered Baptist show the country in a more positive light. group were fined almost 18 months’ wages each. At the most elite end of public health Registration processes have been described promotion, home-grown nationalism was less as complex, arbitrary and expensive. The 2013 of an issue for the government as naturalized or United States Commission on International so-called ‘plastic’ Kazakhs made up over half of Religious Freedom (USCIRF) report documented Kazakhstan’s delegation to the London 2012 cases of corruption involving the re-registration Olympics. The athletes included several Russians process. and three Chinese-born weightlifters, who took During 2012, numerous groups were not Kazakh nationality and changed their names to allowed to re-register. For example, members State of the World’s Minorities Asia and Oceania 121 and Indigenous Peoples 2013 of the Grace Protestant Church in Karaturyk, legal documents. with a mainly Kazakh and Uighur membership, Increasing numbers of Kyrgyz women are were pressured to remove their names from moving to Kazakhstan in search of work where registration documents to prevent the church they are vulnerable to exploitation. There were from registering. Some congregations of the reports in 2012 that some migrant Kyrgyz Russian Orthodox Church Abroad were also women face mistreatment and exploitation. Poor affected. The government raided numerous places female migrants are vulnerable to becoming of worship and confiscated religious material, forced sex workers, drug mules or victims of affecting Pentecostal Christian, Methodist, Hare human trafficking to other countries, especially Krishna and Jehovah’s Witness groups. Russia. Their situation risks being compounded Muslim groups have also been affected. Only by medical problems, lack of access to proper groups that are part of the state-backed Sunni health care and unwanted pregnancies caused by Muslim Board can register and in November rape or forced prostitution. some independent mosques belonging to This trend sparked debate in Kyrgyzstan in Shi’a and Ahmadi Muslim communities were April when a female member of parliament refused legal status. As a result the Ahmadiyya proposed that women under the age of 23 community in Almaty has nowhere to legally should be banned from leaving the country for worship. Other mosques have also been work in order to protect them from mental and threatened with demolition if their communities physical abuse. However, this proposition is don’t register with the authorities. an inappropriate attempt to control women’s Human rights activists report that prison freedom of movement. administrators do not allow prisoners to practise their religion. If members of unregistered groups Kyrgyzstan were incarcerated they would face a prison system Ethnic minorities are under-represented in that has been criticized for providing insufficient the Kyrgyz government; non-Kyrgyz citizens access to medical care and having inadequate constitute 35 per cent of the population but only numbers of medical personnel, including 12 per cent of members of parliament. Women infectious disease doctors, not monitoring are also under-represented. Non-Kyrgyz speakers antiretroviral treatment of HIV-infected complain of a glass ceiling within the civil service, prisoners, having shortages in medication, and even though the law provides for the preservation having inadequate heating and ventilation and free development of minority languages systems. alongside Kyrgyz as the state language and In September, Uzbek Pentecostal pastor, Russian as an official language. Makset Djabbarbergenov, was arrested in More positively, in December 2012 President Kazakshtan at the request of the Uzbek Almazbek Atambaev refused to sign a bill that government for conducting religious activity. He would introduce