Booklets

FREE GASPAR MATALAEV

On October 4, 2016, human rights activist Gaspar Matalaev was arrested in Turkmenistan, Central Asia. He has reportedly been subjected to torture by electric current to force him to confess to false charges of minor fraud. Repeated promises of his release have been broken.

MALOKHAT URGENTLY NEEDS YOUR HELP

On November 12, Uzbek police raided the home of human rights activist Malokhat Eshonkulova and confiscated some of her belongings, including electric heaters, in a nearly 11-hour search for her computer and cell phone. Malokhat is being targeted for her work monitoring forced and child labor in Uzbekistan’s government-run cotton harvest.

Give support to the independent trade unions of Kazakhstan

The independent trade unions remain under pressure in Kazakhstan. After the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Kazakhstan (KNPRK) was de-registered by court order and its bank accounts, equipment and property seized, persecution of union leaders began. In April 2017 Nurbek Kushakbayev, Vice-President of the KNPRK, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison. Then, in May, Amin Eleusinov, President of the Oil Construction Company Workers’ Union, was sentenced to two years behind bars. Both sentences include deprivation of the right to professional and public activity for 3 years.

Turkmenistan: Free Gaspar Matalaev!

Alternative Turkmenistan News (ATN) reporter Gaspar Matalaev remains imprisoned on false charges of fraud, despite multiple promises to his family that he would be released. Matalaev was arrested the night of October 4, 2016, two days after his report on state-orchestrated forced labor of children and adults in Turkmenistan’s cotton harvest was posted on ATN’s website. He reportedly confessed to fraud charges while being tortured with electroshocks, though when he was arrested police told him it was related to photographs he posted on the internet.

Kazakhstan: Stop repression, start dialogue with workers

Recently, the authorities of Kazakhstan have launched large-scale repression against the leaders and activists of the independent trade unions of the Mangistau region, in the west of the country.

Kazakhstan: Save the independent trade union centre from forced dissolution

In recent years, the government of Kazakhstan has been limiting trade union rights and freedoms. It is bringing various forms of pressure to bear upon trade union organisations and individual activists. This relentless harassment has now peaked with the Kazakh authorities’ intention to force through the dissolution of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan (KNPRK