Watchdog

A United Nations review of Uzbekistan's human rights record expresses concerns about persistent torture in detention centers and limits on basic freedoms, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The UN Human Rights Committee's conclusions reflect the fact that many pledged rights reforms have yet to materialize, HRW said in a news release on April 8.

"The UN committee review shows that Uzbekistan remains largely authoritarian with a very poor human rights record," said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at HRW in Berlin.

The committee's conclusions show that the government has much to do to address human rights, Williamson said.

The UN Human Rights Committee last week published its observations on Uzbekistan's compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It was its first review of Uzbekistan's human rights record since President Shavkat Mirziyoev came to power in 2016.

The committee expressed concerns about the "torture and ill-treatment of people deprived of liberty, as well as restrictions on the freedom of conscience and religious belief, freedom of expression, freedom of association and peaceful assembly."

The committee noted, however, that there had been progress in fighting corruption, preventing violence against women, judiciary reform, and the elimination of child and forced labor in the cotton sector.

Mirziyoev has taken steps to implement reforms since coming to power. Still, rights watchdogs have expressed concerns about conditions in Uzbekistan, where rights abuses had been widespread under his predecessor, Islam Karimov.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, during a visit to Tashkent in February, said the country "deserves praise for its progress on human rights issues" and commended it for reforms aimed at a more free society with a more accountable government.

Civil rights activists in Kazakhstan have been under mounting pressure in the past several days as the authorities impose even stricter controls to slow the spread of coronavirus.

On April 7, police in the western city of Oral detained well-known blogger and civil rights activist Aslan Sagutdinov.

Sagutdinov posted on Facebook the moment he was detained outside a grocery store.

Oral regional police spokesman Bolat Belgibekov told RFE/RL that Sagutdinov was detained over a libel probe launched against him in a lawsuit filed by a local resident. Belgibekov added that Sagutdinov will also be charged with disobeying police for resisting arrest.

"He broke the police car's window," Belgibekov claimed.

Sagutdinov made headlines in May 2019 amid the mass arrest of rights and opposition activists across the country after he staged a one-man protest in Oral's main square holding a blank piece of paper. He was detained, but later released after police could not determine what to charge him with.

Another blogger and civil rights activist, Baghdat Baqtybaev, was sentenced to 10 days in jail in the southern region of Zhambyl for a live video broadcast on Facebook of long lines of people at a post office in the village of Tolebi. The residents were desperately trying to obtain social benefits the government has promised to people left unemployed because of the pandemic.

Baqtybaev's wife, Diana, told RFE/RL late on April 7 that her husband was jailed the day before after a court found him guilty of "conducting actions violating law and order during the state of emergency." She said her husband will spend 28 days in jail, as another 18-day jail term he received days earlier on similar charges will come into force on April 16.

Bakhytzhan Toreghozhina, the head of the Almaty-based human rights foundation Ar.Rukh.Khaq, told RFE/RL by phone on April 8 that the Kazakh authorities were concerned about any domestic and international spotlight of their efforts to handle the spread of coronavirus in the Central Asian country.

"Kazakh authorities have always silenced dissent by imposing pressure on bloggers and rights activists, and now they are doing everything to muzzle activists to prevent their criticism of the government's anti-coronavirus measures," Toreghozhina said.

The government promised to distribute 42,500 tenges ($95) to citizens who have lost their jobs due to lockdown measures imposed to slow the coronavirus pandemic. However, cash distribution has been hindered by bureaucratic hurdles, causing long lines at banks and post offices across the country in violation of regulations ordering people stay 2 meters away from each other to prevent coronavirus infection.

As of April 8, the number of registered coronavirus cases in Kazakhstan stood at 709, including seven deaths.