OSCE PERMANENT COUNCIL: STATEMENT ON UZBEKISTAN

UNCLAS STATE 019737

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM OSCE UZ
SUBJECT: OSCE PERMANENT COUNCIL: STATEMENT ON UZBEKISTAN


1. Post is authorized to make the following statement at the
February 28, 2008, meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in
Vienna:

Begin Text:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The United States welcomes the limited progress made recently
by Uzbekistan toward fulfilling its Helsinki Commitments.

We welcome the Government of Uzbekistan's decision to release
from imprisonment a number of human rights defenders and
amnesty two Christian leaders, Salavat Serikbayev and Nikolai
Zulfikarov, who had been convicted of teaching religion
illegally. These are positive steps concerning the
protection of human rights and religious freedom. We urge
the Government of Uzbekistan to build upon these steps, for
example by easing registration criteria for religious groups,
allowing minority religious groups to worship freely, and
permitting religious materials to be published or imported
for their use.

We take note of Mr. Yusupov,s statement in the Permanent
Council on February 14th that the Government of Uzbekistan
continues to review the cases of imprisoned human rights
defenders. While we continue to call on the Government to
release all political prisoners, we particularly urge the
Government to include in this review imprisoned Pentecostal
Pastor Dmitry Shestakov, and Jehovah,s Witness Irfan
Hamidov. We also believe that the Mutabar Tojiboyeva and
Sanjar Umarov cases warrant urgent review due to reports that
their health continues to deteriorate in prison. There have
also been reports that the condition of Jamshid Karimov has
worsened in psychiatric detention, where we believe he
continues to be held against his will.

The United States also welcomes the recent reopening of Human
Rights Watch in Tashkent after it was forced to close its
office in July 2007, when its last expatriate staff member
was refused accreditation by the Government. The opening of
three new resource centers for local non-governmental
organizations and the award of 22 grants to non-governmental
organizations are also encouraging signs regarding the
development of civil society in Uzbekistan. We hope that
there will be more progress on these fronts in line with OSCE
standards in the coming weeks and months.

As always, we support the important role that the OSCE
Project Coordinator,s Office in Tashkent can play in
assisting the Government of Uzbekistan to fulfill its
Helsinki commitments. The Project Coordinator,s Office
submitted to the authorities in Tashkent last October a list
of useful projects it would like to initiate in 2008. We are
looking to the Government to finish its review of this
project list promptly so that the OSCE office can commence
with its new work.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
RICE