News

Uzbekistan’s Largest Oil Refinery Changes Hands, Shaken by Dismissals, Theft

The Ferghana oil refinery is Uzbekistan’s largest – and most sought after. Based in the most densely populated region of Uzbekistan in the Ferghana valley, the mammoth, Soviet-built complex churns out up to 6.5 million metric tons of oil and other petroleum products a year. Dozens of oil trucks are seen daily climbing the narrow Kamchik Pass that links the valley to the rest of Uzbekistan.
Radio Ozodlik, an Uzbek-language service of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, reported in June that 287 staffers of the Ferghana refinery sent a group petition to Mirziyoyev’s online reception. Since Mirziyoyev’sascension to power, the reception has become an effective and often the only tool to complain about corruption among Uzbek officials.

UZBEK JOURNALIST BOBOMUROD ABDULLAEV AT RISK OF EXTRADITION FROM KYRGYZSTAN ON POLITICAL CHARGES

On August 10, Bishkek’s Pervomaysk District Court ordered that Uzbek journalist Bobomurod Abdullaev remain in custody until September 8. In the meantime, the General Prosecutor’s Office of Kyrgyzstan is to decide on the request of the Uzbek authorities to extradite the opposition journalist to Uzbekistan. Abdullaev was detained in Kyrgyzstan on August 9 upon the request of officials in Tashkent. He is being held in the Kyrgyz State Committee for National Security (GKNB) detention facility while Uzbek law enforcement agencies are investigating him for a “number of crimes”, according to UKMK.

Kyrgyz Film Denied License For Showing Corrupt Officials

The makers of a new Kyrgyz movie say they were denied a distribution license after a film commission objected to scenes showing corrupt government officials. Motherland, by director Mederbek Jalilov, tells the story of a conflict between Kyrgyz villagers and a Chinese investor.

180+ Orgs Demand Apparel Brands End Complicity in Uyghur Forced Labour

72 Uyghur rights groups are joined by over 100 civil society organisations and labour unions from around the world in calling on apparel brands and retailers to stop using forced labour in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (“Uyghur Region”), known to local people as East Turkistan, and end their complicity in the Chinese government’s human rights abuses.

CHRONICLE OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN UZBEKISTAN: RIOTS, ILL TREATMENT AND SUICIDES IN QUARANTINE FACILITIES AMID APPLAUSE FROM INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

The Special Commission on Combating Covid-19 has strengthened quarantine measures throughout Uzbekistan from July 10 to August 1. The government has restricted traffic, banned events and weddings, closed parks, markets, large shops and gyms, and prohibited people over 65 from going out.

Challenges NGOs in Uzbekistan are still facing

Проблемы, с которыми все еще сталкиваются низовые активисты и самоинициативные НПО в Узбекистане несмотря на сильную политическую волю президента Мирзиёева к усилению роли гражданского общества в процессе демократического развития страны. Отдавая кредит там, где должен быть кредит, в отличие от государственных НПО, снизу-вверх группы пытаются зарегистрироваться, и весь процесс административных процедур направлен на то, чтобы разочаровать и унывать. Помимо бюрократических лент, зарегистрированные НПО задыхаются из-за обременительной отчетности и спроса на предварительное утверждение для повседневной деятельности. Помимо ограниченных местных финансовых ресурсов и слабых организационных возможностей, узбекские НПО ограничены иностранным финансированием. Практические рекомендации, как позволить третьему сектору свободно дышать путем стирания стереотипов, предубеждений и негативного отношения к НПО в Узбекистане.

Free Kanatbek Osmonov!

BWI called for the immediate release of Kyrgzstan trade union leader Kanatbek Osmonov, who was charged with criminal cases and placed under house arrest by the government. Osmonov is the Deputy Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of Kyrgyzstan (FTUKg) and President of the Kyrgyzstan Forestry Workers Union.

OUT OF THE CAULDRON, INTO THE FIRE? RISK AND THE PRIVATISATION OF UZBEKISTAN’S COTTON SECTOR

Ulster University and the Uzbek Forum for Human Rights has released the first sector wide study on corporate integrity in Uzbekistan. The report and associated policy brief focus on the cotton cluster system, a landmark privatisation initiative designed to improve agro-industrial productivity, and address the structural drivers of systematic forced labour in Uzbekistan. State-organised forced labour regimes in Uzbekistan’s cotton sector have attracted significant domestic and international criticism over the past decade.

UZBEKISTAN: FAIR RECRUITMENT, EFFECTIVE ACCOUNTABILITY NEEDED TO END FORCED LABOR AS INDEPENDENT LABOR MONITORS HARASSED, ARBITRARILY DETAINED

A new report released today by Uzbek Forum for Human Rights (formerly Uzbek-German Forum / UGF) on the 2019 cotton harvest in Uzbekistan documents both meaningful progress toward ending forced labor and the persistence of government-organized forced labor, said the Cotton Campaign. The report finds that the state-imposed cotton quota, structural labor shortages, the lack of fair and independent recruitment channels, and weak accountability systems contributed to significant ongoing forced labor, including in the newly privatized cotton textile cluster system. Lagging progress on civil society freedoms is also limiting the success of broader reform efforts.

Unions under threat in Kyrgyzstan

While the ex-chair of Federation of Trade Unions of Kyrgyzstan refuses to resign, the current leaders of FTUK are being prosecuted and a draft law depriving unions of independence is promoted in the parliament.