Uzbek-German Forum has received an audio recording of Alisher Salayev, the head of the Gurlen district of the Khorezm region, in which he is heard shouting and using obscene language during a meeting with farmers on March 11  in the building of the Gurlen district hokimiyat. According to the UGF monitor who spoke to an eyewitness, Salayev reprimanded 12 farmers for the failure to go to the Yangibazar district for a seminar held by Uktam Kuchkarov, the deputy of the Khorezm region.									
				
			 
								
				
									
								
					
					An RFE/RL correspondent in Kazakhstan has been fined after being detained for the third time in weeks in the restive city of Zhanaozen, where she has been covering ongoing rallies.									
				
			 
								
				
									
								
					
					Saniya Toiken was fined $113 for purportedly failing to submit to police orders									
				
			 
								
				
									
								
					
					Organizations from all five Central Asian republics may apply for support for original and innovative projects focused on the promotion of human rights and democracy in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.									
				
			 
								
				
									
								
					
					At the start of February, a fire killed five girls, aged 3 months to 13 years, in their home in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana. It happened when both parents had to work overnight.									
				
			 
								
				
								
					
					Jizzakh human rights activist Uktam Pardaev is seriously concerned for his own safety and the safety of his family. On February 24, Pardayev told Uzbek-German Forum (UGF) that over the past week, he and his family members have been under surveillance.									
				
			 
								
				
									
								
					
					Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 4 February 2019, a government delegation of the Republic of Uzbekistan led by Deputy Prime Minister Tanzilya Narbayeva attended the annual meeting of the international coalition Cotton Campaign, which was the initiator of the so-called boycott ”against Uzbek textile products.
									
				
			 
								
				
								
					
					The Cotton Campaign hosted the first-ever, high-level delegation of Uzbek government officials to join its annual strategy meeting on February 4 at a pivotal time for reform to end forced labor in Uzbekistan. Building on discussions in May 2018, when a Cotton Campaign delegation visited Tashkent, the two sides agreed on broad areas of further progress that are necessary to achieve lasting reform. The Cotton Campaign and the Government of Uzbekistan also agreed to intensify direct dialogue in 2019 in order to encourage and accelerate the progress of reform.									
				
			 
								
				
									
								
					
					Striking workers at an oil and natural-gas pipeline producing company in western Kazakhstan have been promised a salary increase by the firm's management.									
				
			 
								
				
									
								
					
					Nurses and teachers in Uzbekistan are being forced by officials to clean streets, plant trees and harvest wheat or face the sack, fines or pay cuts, despite a government drive to end state-imposed work, labor rights groups said on Thursday.