Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07TASHKENT235
2007-02-12 12:09:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tashkent
Cable title:  

RED CROSS STILL WAITING FOR PRISON ACCESS

Tags:  PHUM PGOV ICRC UZ 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO4873
PP RUEHDBU
DE RUEHNT #0235/01 0431209
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 121209Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY TASHKENT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7028
INFO RUEHTA/AMEMBASSY ASTANA 8614
RUEHAH/AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT 2542
RUEHEK/AMEMBASSY BISHKEK 3127
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 3006
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 6983
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 1917
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0731
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TASHKENT 000235 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL
PRM FOR EMILY MESTETSKY

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/12/2017
TAGS: PHUM PGOV ICRC UZ
SUBJECT: RED CROSS STILL WAITING FOR PRISON ACCESS

Classified By: AMB. JON R. PURNELL, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TASHKENT 000235

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL
PRM FOR EMILY MESTETSKY

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/12/2017
TAGS: PHUM PGOV ICRC UZ
SUBJECT: RED CROSS STILL WAITING FOR PRISON ACCESS

Classified By: AMB. JON R. PURNELL, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D)


1. (C) Summary: After over two years of negotiation, the
Government of Uzbekistan has still not reached agreement with
the International Committee of the Red Cross to resume
monitoring of prisons and other detention facilities. Red
Cross officials state that while some elements of the
government are cooperating, law enforcement and prison
authorities are stonewalling. Delegation members emphasize
that the selective access that some European Union officials
have received is only symbolic, and may ultimately be
counterproductive. In the meantime, the Red Cross continues
to monitor prisons through interviews with detainees'
relatives, and monitors the condition of returned Andijon
refugees from a distance. End summary.


2. (C) International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
delegation members told Poloff on February 9 that the
Government of Uzbekistan still has not granted full access to
prisons and other places of detention in accordance with its
2001 agreement. The Red Cross suspended its prison
monitoring program in December 2004 due to lack of
cooperation from the Uzbek side. For several months before
the suspension, Uzbekistan was obstructing the monitoring
program, in effect denying full access to detention
facilities under the modalities to which it committed in its
2001 agreement with the Red Cross, and to which the
organization adheres throughout the world. Red Cross
officials told Poloff that they nevertheless remain
optimistic, and they feel they are coming closer to an
agreement.


3. (C) Delegation members said that the chief problem now is
a lack of unity within the Uzbek government. While they
believe they have a broad agreement with the Foreign
Ministry, the "authorities directly concerned with access"
(i.e., the Ministry of Internal Affairs and its central
corrections authority, which manages the prison system) are
throwing up obstacles. In an echo of previous statements,
the Deputy Head of Delegation said that the Red Cross remains
patient, and that it is better to keep negotiating than to
compromise on modalities which are non-negotiable worldwide.


4. (C) The officers commented disparagingly on the December
visit of European Union (EU) representatives, during which
the government provided access to Andijon's city prison, the
site of the prison break during the May 2005 Andijon
violence. "What did they see in the prison?" one officer
asked rhetorically. "The kitchen. That will help them to
monitor improvements in food service." In other words, as
Red Cross officials have told us before, when diplomatic
missions request access to particular prisoners and
facilities, authorities carefully control the environment so
that visitors see only what Uzbek officials want them to see.
This allows the Uzbek government to claim publicly that it
is providing access, while still concealing the vast majority
of their detention system. The Deputy Head of Delegation
emphasized, "It is better to have access to all detainees in
all facilities." (Note: An EU Parliamentary human rights
delegation also made a short visit to the women's prison in
Tashkent. Even German Embassy officials accompanying the
delegation admitted the prison officials seemed intimidated
by higher authorities to respond to delegations members'
questions with what they expected the delegation wanted to
hear. End note.)


5. (C) In the absence of prison access, the Red Cross
delegation is monitoring prison conditions through interviews
with prisoners' relatives. The delegation has also
maintained indirect contact with Andijon refugees who
returned from the United States in 2006. Their contacts in
Andijon have reported that returnees are, in general, not
being detained or harassed. Authorities are, however,
closely monitoring them and preventing them from leaving
their immediate neighborhoods.


6. (C) Comment: The willingness by certain elements of the
government to work with the Red Cross is no doubt tied to the
EU debate over the future of its sanctions against
Uzbekistan. The Uzbek side is eager to demonstrate that it
is upholding its international human rights commitments. So
far, however, the commitment is in word only, and Uzbekistan

TASHKENT 00000235 002 OF 002


has taken no concrete steps to demonstrate its goodwill aside
from the release of two or three internationally known
political prisoners.

PURNELL