U.S. efforts to promote human rights in Uzbekistan should be bolstered by
President George Bush's signature on a new law, Human Rights Watch said today.
The legislation, an emergency spending bill approved by the Congress on July 24, allocates $45 million to Uzbekistan, a close U.S. ally in its war on terrorism. It also includes a provision sponsored by Senator Patrick Leahy that, for the first time, makes assistance to the Uzbek government conditional on that country's efforts to improve its human rights record and to institute political and legal reform.
"Immediately after September 11, U.S. criticism of Uzbekistan's human rights record was muted," said Tom Malinowski, Washington Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch. "That's turning around. Concern is growing in Congress, and the Bush administration is not standing in the way."
Under the law, before providing new assistance to the Uzbek government, the U.S. State Department must certify that Uzbekistan is making "substantial and continuing" progress in meeting commitments made to the United States in the Declaration on Strategic Partnership, signed during Uzbek President Islam Karimov's visit to Washington in March, 2002. In the Declaration, Uzbekistan pledged, among other things, to:
- build a "strong and open civil society"
- ensure "respect for human rights and freedoms based on the universally recognized principles and norms of international law"
- establish a "genuine multi-party system"
- ensure "free and fair elections"
- permit "political pluralism, diversity of opinions and the freedom to express them" and ensure the "independence of the media"
- provide for separation of powers, including through "the establishment of a freely elected and multi-party bicameral legislature"
- ensure the "independence of the courts"
Since signing the Declaration, Uzbekistan has failed to make significant improvements in any of these areas, Human Rights Watch said. There are no independent political parties. The government remains intolerant of criticism. Thousands of political and religious dissidents suffer in prisons where torture and disease are rampant. In the past, however, modest steps forward have come in response to U.S. pressure.
"U.S. engagement can move Uzbekistan in the right direction, but not if it's unconditional," Malinowski said. "The Bush administration should use this law to make clear that future aid really will depend on Uzbekistan keeping its promises."
