To:

The General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC), Council of the European Union

Javier Solana, High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union

Members of the European Parliament 

CC:

Central Asian unit, European Commission

European Parliament delegation to Central Asia

Foreign Ministries of the EU member states

Parliaments of the EU member-states

OSCE

Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, OSCE

US Department of State

US Senate and House of Representatives

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, US Congress

UN Human Rights Council

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

May, 2007 

We the undersigned, members of the civil society of Uzbekistan and friends of our country, appeal to you on this day, the eve of the second anniversary of the Andijan massacre, to use all available levers at your disposal to pressure the Karimov dictatorship to cease the harsh reprisals and repression, which it has been prosecuting since May 2005.  

You will know from your own history that attempts to engage with brutal dictators not only do not yield results, but risk extending the life of these regimes through inadvertently legitimising their crimes. President Islam Karimov – who, according to OSCE standards, has never faced a free and fair election – has operated according to a political calculus that draws succor and comfort from western policies of ‘engagement’.  The idea that engagement can generate pressure for political reform has a 15-year track record of unambiguous failure.  The sad reality is that only through collective pressure undertaken by the international community can dictators be forced to desist from their crimes. Sanctions must therefore be real, and not merely symbolic, in order to be effective.  

We regret the attempts by some European countries to coddle the Uzbek despot who showed no hesitation in ordering the indiscriminate slaughter of civilians in May 2005. This crime against humanity has not yet been investigated by the international community. The visits of EU experts to Andijan – reduced to a Potemkin farce of one-sided meetings with local law enforcement agencies – cannot be considered a substitute for the international and impartial inquiry. 

The Karimov regime now repeatedly refers in public and in the media to EU ‘engagement’ as an excuse for its misdeeds, which include arbitrary arrests, Stalinist trails, the widespread use of torture and the use of psychiatry as a means of persecution.  Despite the best intentions of the EU delegation visit to the country in April 2007, its efforts are being presented to citizens inside of Uzbekistan as a blessing from Europe on the eve of presidential elections scheduled for December 2007. 

Yet, far from improving, the political situation in Uzbekistan has significantly deteriorated in the last two years. Repressions against activists, independent journalists and human rights defenders have intensified. Since May 2005 around thirty human rights activists have been arrested, joining thousands already imprisoned on political grounds. Uzbekistan is turning into a post-Soviet gulag and has generated numbers of prisoners of conscience not seen since the 1950s. 

In recent months, while the European Union has contemplated engaging with the Karimov regime, the crackdown in Uzbekistan has accelerated further. The government has been particularly vigorous in its attempts to extinguish the final remaining voices of independent political analysis in the country.  Umida Niyazova, who in the Uzbek government’s eyes committed the “grave crime” of exposing the Andijan tragedy to the outside world, is under arrest and faces a long term in prison. After shutting down most international broadcasters, the regime is now persecuting the freelance reporters that remain in the country. The recent filing of criminal charges against two freelance journalists working for the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, Yuri Chernogaev and Natalia Bushueva, is an example of this policy.  

In this dark hour Uzbekistani civil society and democratic activists still believe that with collective international action, Uzbekistan can be prevented from sliding toward an even worse form of dictatorship. In our continuing struggle for justice we look to the West for support.

 We call upon the European Union not to soften its pressure on the government of Uzbekistan by rolling back the sanctions which have formed the basis of its coherent position toward the authorities.

 We suggest that the EU and its Member States reinstate the strong stance taken following Andijan: maintain travel bans against individuals; cut off military assistance to Uzbekistan; continue to insist on an independent, impartial and international investigation into the Andijan events. These measures must be complemented by restricting economic assistance that would benefit the ruling regime which controls the distribution of all economic resources including foreign assistance. Without guarantees of good, corruption-free governance, the economic assistance should not be offered.

 We call upon the UN Council for Human Rights to return the case of Uzbekistan for consideration, and demonstrate that human rights in this country do indeed matter for this respected institution.   

We call upon the US Administration, Senate and House of Representatives to act toward Uzbekistan in closer coordination with the EU, by setting forth a united policy with Europe that reflects the basic values of advanced democracies.  

The victims of the Andijan massacre have been buried; don’t let the truth be buried as well.

Signatures: 

1.                 Shahida Yakub, Uzbekistan Initiative-London, London, UK, www.uzbekistaninitiative.com

2.                 Quinn Martin, Uzbekistan Initiative-NY, New York, USA

3.                 Bahrom Hamroev, Society of Central Asian Migrants, Moscow, Russia