Consideration of the third periodic report under Article 40 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
18.01.2010. Category:Uzbekistan
The Expert Working Group of Uzbek NGOs and human rights practitioners prepared this report to inform the process of consideration for the third periodic report of Uzbekistan by the United Nations Human Rights Committee under the Article 40 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Previously Uzbekistan reported on the 83rd session of the UN Human Rights Committee held in March 2005.
The report covers the events for the period of 2005 to 2009. As for the range of issues, the current report largely repeats the previous 2005 NGO submission regarding the many problems and failures of the Uzbek Government to insure the rights guaranteed by the Covenant persisted.
In 2005 the Committee made twenty substantive recommendations to the Uzbek Government on necessary steps to be taken in order to bring its national legislation and practice in line with the provisions of the Covenant. Regretfully, the State has not made any genuine efforts to follow these recommendations in full. None of the twenty one individual communications against Uzbekistan on which the Committee found violations of the Covenant have been fully implemented by the government since 2004. Instead, Uzbekistan continued suppressing the basic civil and political rights of its citizens, while diverting the attention of the civil and international community to various national programs and conferences, which were high-profile in media, yet superficial in their essence. Torture and ill-treatment in prisons and custody, unfair trials based on forced confessions, impunity of state officials for violations of human rights, non-registration of political parties and NGOs, persecution of any dissent in political and public life, restrictions on freedom of movement, assembly, religion, expression and other violations of basic freedoms have become the regular attributes of the governing regime.
During the reporting period the country and international community also witnessed one of the most violent and ruthless attacks of the government against its own people in May of 2005 in Andizhan. The current position of the government on this issue does not leave any hope for independent investigation into the mass killings, including of women and children. The authorities used this event as another excuse to tighten the grip over the civil society and international organizations operating in Uzbekistan. It has become ever more challenging for NGOs of Uzbekistan to collect data and conduct monitoring of human right violations since 2005.
The report outlines the most pressing areas of concern by human rights NGOs and indicates Uzbekistan’s failure to ensure effective implementation of rights and freedoms protected by the ICCPR under the Articles 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 21, 22, 24.
The present report comes with an Appendix of case studies on the reviewed articles of the Covenant.
The report covers the events for the period of 2005 to 2009. As for the range of issues, the current report largely repeats the previous 2005 NGO submission regarding the many problems and failures of the Uzbek Government to insure the rights guaranteed by the Covenant persisted.
In 2005 the Committee made twenty substantive recommendations to the Uzbek Government on necessary steps to be taken in order to bring its national legislation and practice in line with the provisions of the Covenant. Regretfully, the State has not made any genuine efforts to follow these recommendations in full. None of the twenty one individual communications against Uzbekistan on which the Committee found violations of the Covenant have been fully implemented by the government since 2004. Instead, Uzbekistan continued suppressing the basic civil and political rights of its citizens, while diverting the attention of the civil and international community to various national programs and conferences, which were high-profile in media, yet superficial in their essence. Torture and ill-treatment in prisons and custody, unfair trials based on forced confessions, impunity of state officials for violations of human rights, non-registration of political parties and NGOs, persecution of any dissent in political and public life, restrictions on freedom of movement, assembly, religion, expression and other violations of basic freedoms have become the regular attributes of the governing regime.
During the reporting period the country and international community also witnessed one of the most violent and ruthless attacks of the government against its own people in May of 2005 in Andizhan. The current position of the government on this issue does not leave any hope for independent investigation into the mass killings, including of women and children. The authorities used this event as another excuse to tighten the grip over the civil society and international organizations operating in Uzbekistan. It has become ever more challenging for NGOs of Uzbekistan to collect data and conduct monitoring of human right violations since 2005.
The report outlines the most pressing areas of concern by human rights NGOs and indicates Uzbekistan’s failure to ensure effective implementation of rights and freedoms protected by the ICCPR under the Articles 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 21, 22, 24.
The present report comes with an Appendix of case studies on the reviewed articles of the Covenant.