UN Human Rights Officials Voice Concern Over Allegations Of Torture In Uzbekistan
Senior United Nations human rights officials today voiced concern over allegations of torture, ill-treatment and
arbitrary detention in Uzbekistan in connection with last month’s violent protests in the Andijan region of the Central
Asian country.
“We appeal to the Government to ensure strict observance of its international human rights obligations under
international law, particularly the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment and to ensure that the absolute prohibition of torture and ill-treatment is respected on its territory,” they
said in a joint statement.
The Special Rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human Rights on torture, Manfred Nowak, the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Leila Zerrouguï, and Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Special Representative on
human rights defenders, Hina Jilani, also deplored reports of people being held incommunicado.
“We express our deep concern about reports that Uzbek authorities are pressuring human rights defenders who are
collecting evidence on the events of 13 May, and pressuring Uzbek asylum-seekers in Kyrgyzstan to return, in order to
suppress their testimonies in relation to the events in Andijan,” they added.
“We call on the Government to undertake every effort to ensure that defenders' rights to promote and protect human
rights are guaranteed including their freedom of assembly and right to protest. We call upon the Government to ensure
full and prompt independent access to all detained persons,” they concluded. “We also support the call for an
independent international investigation.”
Their statement followed an appeal from Mr. Annan last night to the Government of neighbouring Kyrgyzstan not to
forcibly return asylum seekers and refugees to Uzbekistan, where the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour
said they “may face an imminent risk of grave human rights violations, including torture and extra-judicial and summary
executions.”
In statements, also last night, Ms. Arbour and UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres urged the Kyrgyz
government to allow all Uzbek asylum seekers in the country to be properly screened to determine if they are refugees
and to ensure their protection under international refugee and human rights law.
The two agencies said they had received indications that a group of 29 asylum seekers, recently removed from Sasyk camp
where some 450 Uzbeks are housed, may be expelled to their home country in the near future irrespective of whether or
not they are refugees under international law. According to Kyrgyz officials, extradition proceedings for the group,
being carried out under bilateral agreements between the two countries, are in the final stages.
“There must be a proper procedure, not a hasty effort to rubber stamp a politically expedient ending to the current
tensions with Uzbekistan,” Mr. Guterres said.
If the 29 men are indeed refugees - instead of “criminals” as repeatedly alleged by the Uzbek authorities - their
deportation would be a violation of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention to which Kyrgyzstan is a signatory, he added.
The two agencies said evidence that the men were “common criminals” rather than refugees fleeing persecution for their
political or religious beliefs or other grounds defined by the 1951 Convention, would need to be examined extremely
carefully before they could be excluded from refugee status and returned to their home country.