SEATTLE — Uzbekistan is a country in Central Asia that is one of the two double-landlocked countries in the world, surrounded entirely by other landlocked countries. Although officially Uzbekistan is a unitary constitutional republic, it has a history of highly repressive authoritarian regimes. The country’s first president Islam Karimov ruled for 27 years until his death in September 2016. According to several reports, the state of human rights in Uzbekistan presents a bleak picture in various aspects.
Lack of political freedom
Although opposition political parties exist in Uzbekistan, their significance is limited because the Uzbek government has a history of quelling opposition leaders and parties that are a potential challenge to its power base. Elections are unfair and rigged. The judicial and legislative branches of government serve the executive, further strengthening its grip on power.
The government has extradited Uzbek human rights defenders and activists in foreign countries. The returnees have to face imprisonment, torture and other ill-treatment without access to a free trial. Moreover, the families and relatives of these activists were intimidated and even persecuted, in some cases through the state-created and controlled mahalla neighborhood committees.
Freedom of the press
Freedom of expression remains an illusion. Though the government officials talk of democratic and liberal ideals, in practice Uzbekistan is one of the most repressive countries in terms of freedom of the press in Central Asia. Journalists face intimidation and persecution for working for foreign media outlets. The Freedom House, names Uzbekistan a “not free” country, giving it an aggregate score of 3 out of 100. The country also received the lowest possible score in political and civil liberties.
Freedom of belief
Lack of religious freedom also scars the state of human rights in Uzbekistan. Due to the rise of religious radical groups like the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the state has come to repress religious activities. Authorities imprison believers for practicing their faith outside state controls. Reports show that more than 12,000 persons are currently imprisoned on vague “terrorism” and “anti-constitution” related charges.
The government banned shared Muslim iftar — breaking of fast meals in public during Ramadan. It also severely restricted the dissemination of religious literature. Further, the authorities continue to ban people under 18 from attending mosques.
While keeping a check on extreme forms of religious activities is vital to the country’s peace and security, repressing the freedom of belief altogether for unclear reasons may prove counterproductive. Analysts suggest that, like in other Central Asian countries, Uzbekistan uses the anti-religious radicalization campaign as a tool to quell political opposition.
Forced labor
According to Amnesty International’s annual report on human rights in Uzbekistan, the government compelled more than a million public sector employees to work in cotton fields, in the preparation of the fields in the spring and harvest in the autumn. One report showed that children under 18 were also forced to work in the fields. According to the Amnesty International 2016 Global Slavery Index, “Uzbekistan was the world’s second-biggest user of modern-day slavery.” Human rights defenders who tried to report this abusive practice were detained and tortured.
What is worse is that local newspapers, such as Uzbekistan Today and UzDaily, do not provide sufficient critical reports or opinion articles that reflect the sorry state of affairs of human rights in Uzbekistan as reported by international media outlets and human rights groups. The good news is that the country is relatively at peace, but this should not come at the cost of the repression of political, economic and individual freedoms of its citizens.
– Aslam Kakar
Photo: Flickr