United States President Joe Biden should put human rights at the center of planned talks with the five Central Asian leaders on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, September 19, The international human rights organization Human Rights Watch said in a statement.
As the human rights activists note, while Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has triggered renewed focus on this strategically important, resource-rich region, Biden should not allow this to eclipse urgent human rights concerns.
Both the U.S. and European Union have been urging Central Asian governments to resist efforts by Moscow to use trade routes through Central Asia to evade sanctions triggered by its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
«As the U.S. and EU look to strengthen ties with Central Asia following Russia’s escalation of its war on Ukraine, they should seek guarantees on fundamental standards of the rule of law and human rights,» said Iskra Kirova, Europe and Central Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. «Biden should ask for explicit steps to end politically motivated prosecutions, suppression of free speech, and impunity for torture and police brutality.»
As the human rights organization stresses, over 18 months have passed since the January 2022 protests in Kazakhstan accompanied by a cascade of human rights violations, including excessive use of force against protesters, arbitrary arrests and detention, and ill-treatment and torture of detainees. Kazakhstan’s government has yet to effectively investigate the loss of life and other abuses and hold those responsible to account. The U.S. should insist on an independent investigation and accountability for the human rights violations that took place and not let Kazakhstan’s «bloody January» drop from the agenda.
Kyrgyzstan is rapidly moving away from its one-time status as the most vibrant space for civil society and media in the region. Kyrgyz authorities have initiated a series of repressive laws and measures restricting the operations of media and civil society. These include the adoption of an overly broad law on «false information» and a Russian-style law that prohibits «LGBT propaganda,» among other things. Both laws give authorities wide discretion to interfere with media content and operations. Draft laws on nongovernmental organizations and mass media may affect the ability of civil society to secure funding, and they would allow government broad powers of oversight of groups’ activities and lead to closure of independent media.
The government of Tajikistan has intensified its crackdown on human rights and fundamental freedoms. It violently repressed peaceful gatherings in the Gorno Badakshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO) over 2021-2022, uses trumped-up charges against human rights defenders and journalists in retaliation for their professional activities, and has disbanded en masse many of the country’s civil society organizations. The U.S. should raise the dire human rights situation and seek concrete progress before they deepen bilateral relations.
Turkmenistan remains one of the most closed and repressive countries in the world. The change in leadership in 2022 has not brought improvement in its dire human rights situation.
In Uzbekistan, despite President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s claims, the authorities are no longer pursuing a political reform agenda. Promised legislative reforms have stalled, while restrictions on media and politically motivated prosecutions of bloggers and journalists have increased.
«The readiness of the Central Asian leaders to join this meeting is an opportunity for President Biden to make clear what genuine partnerships based on fundamental human rights standards would look like,» Kirova said. «What is at stake is the region’s long-term stability if the legitimate rights and aspirations of many citizens across Central Asia are not guaranteed.»
Source: 24.kg News Agency