Approximately 70,000 people have been evacuated leaving flooded homes and fields behind, with many livelihoods now in ruins. The reservoir, which was built from 2010 to 2017, contained 922 million cubic meters of water intended for irrigation in the Syrdarya and Jizzakh regions. There are now serious questions to be asked as to why a dam that was completed a mere three years ago could have been so seriously defective.
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Asia-Plus newspaper on April 27 cited the Health Ministry to report that 319 people had been diagnosed with pneumonia at one hospital alone, Dushanbe’s City Medical Center No. 1. Out of that overall number, 136 are health workers. Officials said at least 11 people had died, but they provided no timeframe.
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As the world is now discussing the possible impact of the novel Coronavirus crisis on economies, societies, and lifestyles of people in a post-pandemic world, many Central Asian labor migrants in Russia are trying to figure out if they can make it through the lockdown.
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Uzbekistan has called on a global human rights coalition, the Cotton Campaign, to lift an international boycott of Uzbek cotton and textiles, citing progress in eliminating forced labor and the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
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A doctor in Kyrgyzstan was apparently forced to make a video retracting his earlier criticism of the protective equipment he was given. His about-face has sparked a wave of outrage.
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The Cotton Campaign is taking the initiative to develop a framework to encourage responsible sourcing, while providing brands with assurances that forced labor is addressed and civil society is empowered.
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The latest refusal by the Uzbek authorities to register Chiroq, an independent human rights organization, was not only disappointing but anticipated. Human rights activist and founder of Chiroq, Azimbay Ataniyazov, received confirmation from the Ministry of Justice in Karakalpakstan on 31 March that his organization had failed to comply with several laws pertaining to NGOs and provided a list of amendments to be made for the next submission – the third in three months. The first application was rejected in January 2020.
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From April 1, employees of foreign companies in Turkmenistan who are paid in US dollars can withdraw their cash only in manats converted at the state exchange rate. The Central Bank of Turkmenistan has told the country’s financial institutions to stop issuing dollars in cash to employees whose salaries are paid into their accounts in hard currency. Salaries will continue to be transferred into these employees’ accounts in dollars, but they will no longer be able to withdraw those dollars.
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Executive summary The privatization of Uzbekistan’s cotton sector has led to the establishment of so-called “cotton textile clusters” throughout the country designed to increase the added value in the cotton industry by boosting textile production and bringing together production, processing and manufacturing. That is being done under the control of private entities which enter into…
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