Tajikistan
Soros Foundations in Central Asia organize “Youth in the 21st Century: Debating and Producing Media” summer camp that will last for 12 days (yahoo!) with young brilliant people aged 17 to 25.
So here is a deal:
Apart from age, the following thing is the last requirement: participants must be young people from Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to be eligible for applying.
“This is a regional series of workshops that will be held during the summer and early autumn of 2011 for young people throughout the world. These workshops teach youth to be effective producers of media information by equipping them to produce and package content towards creating a better society,” Soros Foundation’s press-release says.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom placed Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan on list of countries of particular concern (or CPC), emphasizing that since independence and limited reforms undertaken by regimes since 1991, governments have systematically and egregiously violated freedom of religion or belief.
14 countries of that made the CPC list of the 2011 Annual Report include: Burma, the Democratic People‘s Republic of Korea (North Korea), Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, the People‘s Republic of China, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
Tajikistan is in the watch list, while Kazakhstan is in the list of additional countries closely monitored. Te situation with religious freedom in Kyrgyzstan is not mentioned at all, probably as there is no visible violation on a state level as in other neighboring countries.
We will start with Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, two worst dictatorship regimes in the region. Read the full story »
The Raqibov Family. Photograph from Radio Ozodi.
Editor’s note: neweurasia’s Botur publishes an open letter from over 500 Tajiks on Facebook who have created a support group to buttress an impoverished family’s two-year fight against the apparently illegal demolition of his house by local officials.
Regarding release of Atoullo Raqibov from prison and compensation to his family for hardships due to violation of human rights laws by local officials in Tajikistan.
Dear Human Rights Defenders Worldwide:
It has been two years since Atoullo Raqibov, resident of Zarkamar Village of Fayzobod District in the Republic of Tajikistan, tirelessly trying to defend his rights for fair trial after his house was destroyed in August 2009 by order of local prosecutor and as a result, his family of seven, including five young children became homeless and suffer in hardships. Nobody in the government of Tajikistan seems to listen to his claims, but on the contrary, instead of hearing his concerns objectively, last week they arrested him and transferred him to a prison in Dushanbe.
While Russia brings out issues related to Russian and Russian-speaking minorities in Uzbekistan, and while people of Uzbekistan discuss whether the movie aired at Russia 1 channel was right or wrong, no one really pays attention to what’s going on with Russian diaspora and its cultural heritage in the neighboring Tajikistan.
On Apil 26, 2011 Kayrakkum City Majlis decided to rename 55 streets and district names.
As Karomat Kosimova, Deputy Chairman of Kayrakkum, told Asia Plus Information Agency, that “people’s representatives voted for a list of streets to be renamed, offered by local people themselves… they proposed it through deputies [...] and self-governmental bodies to the Commission for streets and settlements renaming.” Read the full story »
Russian law-makers came up with an idea of recommending Central Asian countries not to wait until the situation goes under the control like in the Middle Eastern countries and be more open to democratic changes, various information agencies reported after a meeting closed to the public on April 13, 2011.
Russian Federation’s Duma’s (Parliament) committee on CIS affairs and compatriot relations has held the parliamentary hearing dedicated to the Central Asian region: strategic partnership and security problems. As reported by RBC, the participants have urged the countries in the region to enact democratic reforms and prevent the “North African syndrome,” Ferghana information agency reports.
At the same time “Parlamentskaya gazeta” informed that even though the whole hearing has been closed to the public, at least the first three statements have been made in presence of media.
“Russians are not indifferent as to the destiny of the people in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in the light of historic development and co-existence with the people of Russia, which has to be the key factor in the country’s strategy in respect to these states.”
Deputy chair of Duma Nadezhda Gerasimova
U.S. State Department has released its 2010 Country Reports on Human Practices. As expected, Central Asian states did not make a significant progress in human rights practices. Vice versa, majority of our region’s countries turned their backs to what we call respect to human rights.
This report provides encyclopedic detail on human rights conditions in over 190 countries for 2010.
We will start with Uzbekistan because the situation with human rights and political freedoms in this coutnry was “granted” a huge paragraph in the Introduction to the Report. Along with Afghanistan and Pakistan, this Central Asian country, motherland for more than 28 million people, represented a South and Central Asia chapter. Read the full story »
Ms Otunbayeva has been very polite lately. She has offered an apology to Latvia for nationalizing private companies in Kyrgyzstan, which were partially or wholly owned by Latvian shareholders among other foreign investors. She has then issued an apology to those at home. To those at home who faced either death or injury or emigration, to be specific. She has traveled to the devastated city of Osh in southern Kyrgyzstan where she apologized on behalf of the then interim government for “being unable to prevent and stop the massacre.” Read the full story »
Translation of TajikVoice’s post (RUS)
In light of recent revolutionary events in Arab countries, social networks have acquired an absolutely unique status, suddenly being thrust into the center of public attention. In response to the unrest, vigilant law enforcement agencies in Tajikistan have been keeping a close eye on the country’s politically active citizens.
The main tendency over the last two months among Tajik Facebook and other social network users has been their extreme politicization. Practically any link, news item or commentary turns into a discussion of the Tajik government. Read the full story »
Photograph by Flickr user Cindy47452 (CC-usage).
Editor’s note: neweurasia’s Schwartz summarizes our network’s coverage of the reactions from the governments of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to the ongoing upheavals in the Middle East. What he concludes is that their leaders are actively, if quietly, scanning the horizon for signs of trouble that, sooner or later, is bound to come. “It seems [they] are very effectively tightening their grasps – and that’s the problem,” he writes. This is a slightly different version of his original editorial for neweurasia’s partner site, Transitions Online.
Three blind mice. Three blind mice.
See how they run. See how they run.
They all ran after the farmer’s wife,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,
Did you ever see such a sight in your life,
As three blind mice?– Old English nursery rhyme
As political upheaval continues to rumble across the Middle East, North Africa, and even into the Caucasus, the governments of Central Asia are taking active, if subtle, steps to extinguish the fire of revolt before it can be lit. The problem is they may actually be giving it fuel.
Moscow-based RosBusinessConsalting Daily online edition reports on Uzbekistan being the first post-Soviet country to react on events in the Middle East and Northern Africa.
Uzbek governement makes sure to seize full control over cellular companies in the country. Companies were instructed to report on any suspicious actions by their customers. From now on they must report on any kind of massive distributions of text messages through their cellular lines.
Moreover, cellular operators must shut the phone lines down at any time upon the request of the Uzbek Agency for Communications and Information.
Recent people’s revolts in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya were labelled Twitter- and Facebook-revolutions since main calls to revolt were sent out via social networks, RBC notes. Read the full story »
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