Dez 2010
Invitation: ETG Roundtable on the Kazakh OSCE-Chairmanship
07.12.2010. Category:Kazakhstan
Invitation for the ETG Roundtable
„Kazakhstan‘s OSCE Chairmanship 2010
A Review of the Organization‘s Work in 2010 and its Future“
December 15, 2010, 10:00 am - 01:00 pm
Café Landtmann, Landtmannsaal, Dr. Karl Lueger-Ring 4, 1010 Vienna
Panelists:
Alain Délétroz, Vice President Europe, International Crisis Group, Brussels
Dr. Natalya Kharitonova, Director Joint Eurasian Expert Network (JEEN) and Board Member Kazakhstan Information Centre, Moscow
Michael Laubsch, Director Eurasian Transition Group, Bonn
Herbert Salber, Director Conflict Prevention Centre, OSCE-Secretariat, Vienna (tbc)
The final ETG Roundtable in 2010 will focus on the outcome and the results of the Kazakh OSCE-Chairmanship, its impact on the security in Eurasia and the prospects of crisis management in Central Asia.
ETG would be pleased to welcome you to this event.
Please confirm your participation: info@eurasiantransition.org
„Kazakhstan‘s OSCE Chairmanship 2010
A Review of the Organization‘s Work in 2010 and its Future“
December 15, 2010, 10:00 am - 01:00 pm
Café Landtmann, Landtmannsaal, Dr. Karl Lueger-Ring 4, 1010 Vienna
Panelists:
Alain Délétroz, Vice President Europe, International Crisis Group, Brussels
Dr. Natalya Kharitonova, Director Joint Eurasian Expert Network (JEEN) and Board Member Kazakhstan Information Centre, Moscow
Michael Laubsch, Director Eurasian Transition Group, Bonn
Herbert Salber, Director Conflict Prevention Centre, OSCE-Secretariat, Vienna (tbc)
The final ETG Roundtable in 2010 will focus on the outcome and the results of the Kazakh OSCE-Chairmanship, its impact on the security in Eurasia and the prospects of crisis management in Central Asia.
ETG would be pleased to welcome you to this event.
Please confirm your participation: info@eurasiantransition.org
ASTANA COMMEMORATIVE DECLARATION
03.12.2010. Category:Kazakhstan
Uzbekistan needs action, not words on human rights
03.12.2010. Category:Uzbekistan
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (AFP) – Uzbekistan should "translate words into practice" to improve its human rights situation, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday during a brief visit to Tashkent.
The US is ready to "support and assist in that effort", Clinton added while meeting President Islam Karimov on Thursday during a visit to the ex-Soviet state that lasted only a few hours.
"I urged him to demonstrate his commitment through a series of steps, to ensure that human rights and fundamental freedoms are truly protected in this country," Clinton told NGO leaders at a meeting, apress statement said.
"I am well aware of the hardship that many of you experience because of the work that you do," she said.
Uzbekistan has rejected the accusations of mass human rights violations, notably the regime's systematic stifling of all form of opposition, which are regularly voiced by NGOs.
Clinton said she touched on restrictions on religious freedom, torture, and child labour.
"We raise these issues in all our interactions with the government and will continue to make improvement of human rights in Uzbekistan an integral part of expanding our bilateral relationship."
In an annual report published in January, US-based Human Rights Watch said the Uzbek government's human rights record remained "atrocious."
Clinton during her visit also signed a broad bilateral science and technology cooperation agreement with Uzbekistan's First Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Azimov.
The US is ready to "support and assist in that effort", Clinton added while meeting President Islam Karimov on Thursday during a visit to the ex-Soviet state that lasted only a few hours.
"I urged him to demonstrate his commitment through a series of steps, to ensure that human rights and fundamental freedoms are truly protected in this country," Clinton told NGO leaders at a meeting, apress statement said.
"I am well aware of the hardship that many of you experience because of the work that you do," she said.
Uzbekistan has rejected the accusations of mass human rights violations, notably the regime's systematic stifling of all form of opposition, which are regularly voiced by NGOs.
Clinton said she touched on restrictions on religious freedom, torture, and child labour.
"We raise these issues in all our interactions with the government and will continue to make improvement of human rights in Uzbekistan an integral part of expanding our bilateral relationship."
In an annual report published in January, US-based Human Rights Watch said the Uzbek government's human rights record remained "atrocious."
Clinton during her visit also signed a broad bilateral science and technology cooperation agreement with Uzbekistan's First Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Azimov.
Cablegate: CENTCOM CDR PETRAEUS MEETS PRESIDENT NAZARVAYEV
03.12.2010. Category:Kazakhstan
1. (S) SUMMARY: President Nazarbayev told CENTCOM Commander General Petraeus:
-- the situation in Afghanistan greatly worries him; the Taliban should never be allowed to become a coalition partner in the Afghan government;
-- Iran cannot be allowed to become a nuclear state, but the United States needs to talk directly with Tehran, and he is willing to be helpful;
-- Kazakhstan will never again be “colonized,” but has excellent relations with Russia and China
-- the West has underestimated the depth of Russia’s wounded pride, but he is willing to be helpful if the Obama administration has “a wise response” to Russia. END SUMMARY.More ...
-- the situation in Afghanistan greatly worries him; the Taliban should never be allowed to become a coalition partner in the Afghan government;
-- Iran cannot be allowed to become a nuclear state, but the United States needs to talk directly with Tehran, and he is willing to be helpful;
-- Kazakhstan will never again be “colonized,” but has excellent relations with Russia and China
-- the West has underestimated the depth of Russia’s wounded pride, but he is willing to be helpful if the Obama administration has “a wise response” to Russia. END SUMMARY.More ...
Parallel Conference calls on OSCE Summit to make true comprehensive security commitment
02.12.2010. Category:Kazakhstan
Civil society organizations from Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus and North America call on the OSCE participating States to reinforce the mechanisms to promote and monitor compliance with the OSCE commitments in the human dimension, on conflict prevention and resolution, and on forging new partnerships with civil society. Over 200 civil society organizations from across the OSCE space met in a Parallel Conference on 28 and 29 November in Astana. “The core of the OSCE’s comprehensive concept of security has always been the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, democracy and the rule of law. We express our determination to contribute towards its full realization”, said Sonia Zilberman of CIVICUS, one of the conference organizers.More ...
The OSCE's dilemma
02.12.2010. Category:Kazakhstan
Despite the complaints of the Euro-Atlantic democracies about its poor record on democratic reforms and human rights, Kazakhstan was granted this year's chairmanship of the Organisation of Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). It was a historic decision, the first time a former Soviet republic had been given the chair of an international organisation.More ...
Cablegate: A TALE OF TWO BUSINESSES
02.12.2010. Category:Turkmenistan
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan's second largest
city, continues its role as a transport hub and industrial
center, despite diminished regional commerce in the
post-Soviet era. A large complex that processes
locally-harvested licorice root continues to prosper due to
the availability of inputs and a healthy export market. A
machine parts factory has faced greater challenges, having
been forced to find a new product line and relying solely on
the domestic market. Unlike the licorice complex, which
pre-dates the Russian Revolution, the machine parts factory
was a Soviet creation that lacks an obvious market in
Turkmenistan's current economy. Thanks to government
subsidies, however, it does not appear that even a
struggling, Soviet era enterprise is threatened with closure.
Given its success at maintaining its production equipment,
the factory could see better days if it found the right
foreign partner interested in a low-cost metal parts. END
SUMMARY. More ...
city, continues its role as a transport hub and industrial
center, despite diminished regional commerce in the
post-Soviet era. A large complex that processes
locally-harvested licorice root continues to prosper due to
the availability of inputs and a healthy export market. A
machine parts factory has faced greater challenges, having
been forced to find a new product line and relying solely on
the domestic market. Unlike the licorice complex, which
pre-dates the Russian Revolution, the machine parts factory
was a Soviet creation that lacks an obvious market in
Turkmenistan's current economy. Thanks to government
subsidies, however, it does not appear that even a
struggling, Soviet era enterprise is threatened with closure.
Given its success at maintaining its production equipment,
the factory could see better days if it found the right
foreign partner interested in a low-cost metal parts. END
SUMMARY. More ...