Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06TASHKENT900
2006-05-05 12:48:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Tashkent
Cable title:
COUNTERPART INTERNATIONAL ORDERED LIQUIDATED
how-toVZCZCXRO5357 PP RUEHDBU DE RUEHNT #0900 1251248 ZNR UUUUU ZZH P 051248Z MAY 06 FM AMEMBASSY TASHKENT TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5715 INFO RUEHTA/AMEMBASSY ALMATY 7883 RUEHAH/AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT 1961 RUEHEK/AMEMBASSY BISHKEK 2490 RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 2391 RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 6647 RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 1756
UNCLAS TASHKENT 000900
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/CEN
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM UZ
SUBJECT: COUNTERPART INTERNATIONAL ORDERED LIQUIDATED
REF: A. TASHKENT 852
B. TASHKENT 874
UNCLAS TASHKENT 000900
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/CEN
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM UZ
SUBJECT: COUNTERPART INTERNATIONAL ORDERED LIQUIDATED
REF: A. TASHKENT 852
B. TASHKENT 874
1. (SBU) On May 4, a Tashkent City Civil Court judge ordered
Counterpart International to liquidate. In requesting
liquidation, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) accused
Counterpart of not providing required documentation on its
programs, acting outside its mandate in setting up a local
NGO in Kokand in 1998, publishing a manual without a license,
and not providing reports on its activities to the GOU's tax
and statistics agencies. After less than a 3 hour
proceeding, the judge deliberated for 14 minutes before
ruling that the charges had been proven and ordering the
liquidation.
2. (SBU) Comment: Counterpart is the first U.S.-funded NGO
closed that was working primarily in the areas of health and
humanitarian assistance. Over the past decade it has
provided over $90 million in humanitarian supplies to
Uzbekistan. That said, it is Counterpart's civil society
activities that put the organization in hot water with the
MOJ. The timing of this liquidation is particularly ironic
given that Counterpart announced on May 3 - the same day it
was summoned to court - that the organization had agreed to
provide an additional $1.6 million worth of medical supplies,
equipment, and furniture to the Ministry of Health in
Andijon. During MOJ monitorings of the organization,
Counterpart went out of its way to be cooperative and handed
over, in some cases against Embassy advice, a wide range of
documents hoping to avoid eventual liquidation. Even in
court, Counterpart decided against mounting too vigorous of a
defense in hopes that it will be allowed to continue at least
some humanitarian and health programs. The GOU's actions in
closing the organization clearly demonstrate that a good
faith effort to cooperate with the MOJ is worth very little
in the current environment.
PURNELL
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/CEN
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM UZ
SUBJECT: COUNTERPART INTERNATIONAL ORDERED LIQUIDATED
REF: A. TASHKENT 852
B. TASHKENT 874
1. (SBU) On May 4, a Tashkent City Civil Court judge ordered
Counterpart International to liquidate. In requesting
liquidation, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) accused
Counterpart of not providing required documentation on its
programs, acting outside its mandate in setting up a local
NGO in Kokand in 1998, publishing a manual without a license,
and not providing reports on its activities to the GOU's tax
and statistics agencies. After less than a 3 hour
proceeding, the judge deliberated for 14 minutes before
ruling that the charges had been proven and ordering the
liquidation.
2. (SBU) Comment: Counterpart is the first U.S.-funded NGO
closed that was working primarily in the areas of health and
humanitarian assistance. Over the past decade it has
provided over $90 million in humanitarian supplies to
Uzbekistan. That said, it is Counterpart's civil society
activities that put the organization in hot water with the
MOJ. The timing of this liquidation is particularly ironic
given that Counterpart announced on May 3 - the same day it
was summoned to court - that the organization had agreed to
provide an additional $1.6 million worth of medical supplies,
equipment, and furniture to the Ministry of Health in
Andijon. During MOJ monitorings of the organization,
Counterpart went out of its way to be cooperative and handed
over, in some cases against Embassy advice, a wide range of
documents hoping to avoid eventual liquidation. Even in
court, Counterpart decided against mounting too vigorous of a
defense in hopes that it will be allowed to continue at least
some humanitarian and health programs. The GOU's actions in
closing the organization clearly demonstrate that a good
faith effort to cooperate with the MOJ is worth very little
in the current environment.
PURNELL