EU policy toward Uzbekistan is at a crossroads. In two weeks' time, you will decide on the fate of one of the most significant policies the EU has adopted in the name of human rights

I am writing to urge that the government of Kazakhstan refrain from extraditing to Uzbekistan Rafik Rakhmonov, an Uzbek asylum seeker. Extraditing Rakhmonov to Uzbekistan would violate Kazakhstan’s international obligations as a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1984 United Nations Convention against Torture.

We are writing in advance of the upcoming Council review of EU policy toward Uzbekistan, at which we urge you to reaffirm the clear human rights demands articulated by the October 2007 General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC), and ensure the integrity of the sanctions regime by keeping it in place until all assessment criteria set by the EU have been met.

In recent months there have been a few positive human rights developments in the region, including notably in Uzbekistan the release from prison of a half-dozen wrongfully detained human rights defenders and an agreement granting ICRC access to prisons. While these developments are to be welcomed, they should not eclipse the overall abysmal state of human rights in the country, and indeed in the region as a whole.

Human Rights Watch writes to urge Dr. Ihsanoglu to use his position as Secretary General of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference to support measures at the upcoming Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Conference in Dakar, Senegal on March 13-14 that would improve and strengthen the 1999 OIC Convention on Combating International Terrorism. In particular, the OIC should consider two amendments to the Convention to narrow its overbroad definition of terrorism and make absolutely clear that there is no sanction in Islam for deliberately attacking civilians, whatever the circumstances or justifications.

In this letter to the chair and ranking member of the US House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, Human Rights Watch identifies Pakistan, Iran, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Uzbekistan, and reproductive health as key concerns for the 2008 State and Foreign Operations bill.

We are writing in advance of the upcoming General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) on 15-16 October, to urge you to ensure that the release of imprisoned human rights defenders be a core objective of the EU’s policy toward Uzbekistan.

We write to express our profound concern about the detention by Czech authorities of Omonillo Maksudov and Zohid Mirzaev, both recognized refugees from Uzbekistan residing in Germany. We understand that Czech border police arrested Maksudov and Mirzaev pursuant to an Interpol warrant based on an extradition request posted by the Uzbek government, following their entry into the Czech Republic on July 2.