For Immediate Release:
July 26, 2006

LONDON and PRAGUE – The Uzbek government has evidently ordered Uzbek internet service providers (ISPs) to block the website www.neweurasia.net, which hosts a network of weblogs covering Central Asia and the Caucasus, the site announced today. The government’s decision to block all national access to www.neweurasia.net is believed to be the first censoring of a weblog in Central Asia.

It is thought that the move may have been prompted by Neweurasia’s recent launch of Uzbek- and Russian-language versions of its popular English-language group blog, which was founded in 2005. The local-language versions are being produced in cooperation with Transitions Online (TOL), an online publisher and journalism training organisation based in Prague.

“Worryingly, the Uzbek government has decided to put Neweurasia on the same blacklist as other websites that provide alternative reporting on ongoing events in Uzbekistan,” said Katy Pearce, one of Neweurasia’s editors. “But at the same time, it shows once again that blogging can be a powerful, free speech tool in a region where governments and their cronies control almost all traditional media outlets.”

After contacting several friends and colleagues across Uzbekistan, Neweurasia and TOL confirmed last week that access to neweurasia.net is no longer possible from within the country. The Uzbek government has not supplied any official notice or explanation for this measure.

Background note:
At the beginning of 2006, Neweurasia and TOL established a partnership to explore the potential of blogging to help promote free speech, free press and self-expression in Central Asia – a region full of countries in dire need of alternatives to their government-controlled media. The central concept of the project revolves around “bridge bloggers”, coordinators who speak both English and local languages and can act as a bridge between the English and local-language blogging communities. They act as mentors to new bloggers, providing ongoing advice on the best blogging practices and security issues. The project’s bridge bloggers are all Central Asian and are responsible for developing the Russian- and Uzbek-language blogs, contributing to the English-language blogs, facilitating dialogue between languages, and helping in the broader development of blogging in the region. The project is supported by Hivos, a non-governmental organization based in the Netherlands.