News

RFE/RL Correspondent Achilova Threatened With Death In Turkmenistan

WASHINGTON -- RFE/RL Turkmen correspondent Soltan Achilova reports (in Turkmen) she was threatened with death on July 29, while en route to take photos documenting Turkmenistan’s “Day of Bicycles.” Achilova further reports that today (July 31), the man who made the July 29 threat identified himself to her as a police officer tasked to watch her wherever she goes, and again warned her against taking photos, or she will be “finished.” The threats follow an assault last week when a man tried to steal her cellphone as she was about to take a picture.

Document of Evidence: Public Sector Employees in Samarkand Massively Mobilized to Carry out Reconstruction Works

On July 29, the popular Uzbek news website www.kun.uz  published an article written by the journalist Tura Murod, who had recently been fired for criticizing the massive mobilization of teachers for mandatory “public” works and such as cleaning the streets, weeding and picking cotton, as well as repairing and constructing public buildings.

Human rights organisations and ILO experts confirm the mass use of forced labour in the cotton industry of Uzbekistan

The infamous forced labour practice in Uzbekistan is still widespread. Two detailed reports on the subject have been released at the same time in July. The 115-page report “We can’t Refuse to Pick Cotton. Forced and Child Labor Linked to World Bank Group Investments in Uzbekistan”

Head of District Educational Department: “Teachers, not the farmers need the cotton”

On 21 July 2017, the Uzbek website www.sof.uz posted the audio recording of a meeting of school directors and heads of kindergartens held at the Uzbekistan District Education Department in the Fergana Region. [The meeting was recorded covertly and sent to the local journalists].
At the meeting, the head of the Uzbekistan district Education Department in the Fergana region Nafisa Nishonova told the teachers that agricultural issues had priority.

Kazakhstan: Sentencing of Union Leader a Travesty of Justice

The ITUC has condemned the sentence handed down against trade union leader Larisa Kharkova by a Kazakhstan court today as a travesty of justice, and an affront to democracy.

Apotheosis of Kyrgyz justice

The President of Kyrgyzstan once again celebrates his victory. Almazbek Atambayev could manage to outdo his predecessors in his state post: he practically neutralised the opposition, divided civil and journalistic society, squeezed out dissenters from the country, he simply slandered the most “stubborn” media and human rights activists.

Tukmenistan

The Government of Turkmenistan does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; therefore, Turkmenistan remained on Tier 3. Despite the lack of significant efforts, the government took some steps to address trafficking, including the continued implementation of its national action plan for trafficking in persons, adoption of a new anti-trafficking law in October 2016, and amending its criminal code to criminalize trafficking in persons. The government also allows for free legal assistance to those applying for recognition as trafficking victims. However, the new criminal code provision defines the crime of trafficking in a manner not fully consistent with international law and has not yet been implemented. Further, the government continued to use the forced labor of reportedly tens of thousands of its adult citizens in the harvest during the reporting period. It actively dissuaded monitoring of the harvest by independent observers through harassment, detention, penalization, and, in some cases, physical abuse. The government did not fund any victim assistance programs, despite being required to do so under domestic law.

Uzbekistan: Forced Labor Linked to World Bank. Systematic Violations Underpin Country’s Cotton Sector

(Brussels) – The World Bank is funding half a billion dollars in agricultural projects linked to forced and child labor in Uzbekistan, Human Rights Watch and the Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights said in a report released today. Under the loan agreements, the Uzbek government is required to comply with laws prohibiting forced and child labor, and the World Bank can suspend the loans if there is credible evidence of violations.

World Bank funds linked to forced labour in Uzbekistan

Report by human rights groups says Bank-funded projects in the country’s cotton industry are using child and forced labour. The Bank refutes the allegations

Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan remain in the lowest possible ranking in the annual Trafficking in Persons Report

Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan remain in the lowest possible ranking in the annual Trafficking in Persons Report
(Washington, DC) -- Today the U.S. State Department announced that the governments of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan remain in the lowest possible ranking, Tier 3, in the annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report.