In Tashkent, female employees of health clinics, schools, and kindergartens are forced to clean in low-income houses in the Sergeli district for free. Nurses complain that otherwise they are threatened with dismissal and withholding from their wages.
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On January 20, 2018 at 3 p.m. at the monument of Urkuya Saliyeva (at the crossing of Chui ave. and Sovetskaya street) young leaders-volunteers of the “Human Rights Movement: Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan” held a peaceful march in honor of the protection of women’s rights in Kyrgyzstan. The purpose of this march was a vivid demonstration of disagreement between young people and unfair situations happening at the moment in the country: early marriages, bride kidnapping, polygamy, pedophilia, family and sexual violence, harassment at work, slavery and human trafficking. This action was also timed to coincide with the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Women’s March, which was held around the world on January 20-21, 2018.
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As the Kazakh government hosted high-profile international events, including EXPO 2017, an annual international exhibition, and several rounds of Syria peace talks, its human rights record further deteriorated. Authorities suppressed independent trade union activity and continued to target government critics, including journalists, with politically motivated criminal charges and other harassment. Several activists and union leaders remain wrongfully imprisoned. The government is considering legislative amendments that appear to propose even further restrictions on freedom of religion. Impunity for torture and ill-treatment in detention persist.
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The 2017 presidential election was won by Sooronbai Jeenbekov and marked the second time since independence in 1991 that Kyrgyzstan experienced a peaceful transfer of presidential power. International observers found the election to be competitive and orderly, but noted concerns about abuse of public resources, pressure on voters, and vote buying. Prior to the election, authorities banned public assemblies in central Bishkek and introduced restrictions on domestic election monitors, such as limiting the number of civil society observers per polling station to one.
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In the year-and-a-half since Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev assumed power following the death of his predecessor, Islam Karimov, he has taken some steps to improve the country’s abysmal human rights record, such as releasing some political prisoners, relaxing certain restrictions on free expression, removing citizens from the security services’ notorious “black list,” and increasing accountability of government institutions to the citizenry.
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Turkmenistan remains one of the world’s most closed and oppressively governed countries. President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and his associates control all aspects of public life. Elections extended Berdymukhamedov’s presidential term for another seven years.
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Tajikistan’s human rights record worsened further in 2017, as authorities deepened a severe, widespread crackdown on free expression and association, peaceful political opposition activity, the independent legal profession, and the independent exercise of religious faith.
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French TV airs two-hour documentary about the Uzbek cotton industry On November 28, the French TV channel France 2, broadcast a two-hour documentary about international business dealings in the cotton industry, including insights into the dysfunctional Uzbek cotton sector. The French journalist, Sandrine Rigaud, travelled to Uzbekistan, Bangladesh and India to investigate the dark side of the…
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ADC “Memorial” welcomes the adoption of important UN documents on the rights of migrant children, which include two Joint General Comments of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (CMW) – “On the general principles regarding the human rights of children in the context of international migration” and “On State obligations regarding the human rights of children in the context of international migration in countries of origin, transit, destination and return”.
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SHAKHTINSK, Kazakhstan — A strike by coal miners in north-central Kazakhstan has spread to more mines as hundreds of workers are refusing to return to the surface, demanding higher salaries and better benefits.
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