UZBEKISTAN: NGOS RECEIVE PERMISSION FOR HUMAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L TASHKENT 001197

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/20/2018
TAGS: PHUM EAID KIRF KWMN PGOV PREL UZ
SUBJECT: UZBEKISTAN: NGOS RECEIVE PERMISSION FOR HUMAN
RIGHTS TRAININGS

Classified By: POLOFF R. FITZMAURICE FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D)


1. (C) Summary: Two non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
receiving Embassy Democracy Commission grants have been
recently granted permission by authorities to conduct human
rights trainings at schools and with law enforcement
officials. Their success in engaging local officials on
human rights issues demonstrates that such cooperation is
possible and also indicative of a slowly improving atmosphere
for local NGOs. We also agree with remarks by one of the NGO
leaders that progress on human rights in Uzbekistan requires
a long-term outlook and a step-by-step approach of engagement
with authorities. We will continue to support similar
projects in the future. End summary.

ACTIVIST CONDUCTS HUMAN RIGHTS TRAININGS AT SCHOOLS
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2. (C) On October 16, poloff met with human rights activist
Ulugbek Usmanov, whose organization recently received an
Embassy Democracy Commission grant to conduct human rights
trainings at schools in Tashkent province. Usmanov reported
that he discussed the project with local and provincial-level
Ministry of Education officials, who granted him permission
to conduct the trainings this fall at three schools, one in
the city of Tashkent and two in the Zangiyat region of
Tashkent province.


3. (C) Usmanov explained that the trainings focused on
increasing human rights awareness among youth. He reported
tying in discussion of President Karimov's decree this year
on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (UDHR) with an in-depth discussion of each of the
rights covered in the UDHR. He also compared the Uzbek
Constitution with international human rights conventions.
Another section of the trainings focused on the
responsibilities governments have to protect the rights of
their citizens.


4. (C) Usmanov planned to conduct a total of 10 three-hour
trainings at each of the schools, which focused on students
from the ninth grade. He reported that approximately 20 to
25 students at each school participated in the trainings on a
regular basis. He also noted that the lessons were popular
with teachers, who asked him to conduct similar trainings for
them in the future. Usmanov plans to expand the trainings
next spring to schools in eight additional regions of
Tashkent province. He also planned to open centers in
schools where human rights-related literature would be
displayed.

SUPPORT FROM NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS CENTER
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5. (C) Usmanov received support from the project from the
state-controlled National Human Rights Center, which donated
literature that was distributed to the students. Usmanov
personally met with the National Human Rights Center
director, Akmal Saidov (who ran as an "independent" candidate
in the 2007 presidential election). Saidov, who reportedly
was initially taken aback by the idea, eventually voiced his
support and has since offered to send his deputy, Akmadjon
Ismoilov, to attend one of the trainings. Usmanov also was
attempting to work through his brother, who works for Uzbek
state TV, to televise the trainings.

ACTIVIST SEES CHANGE IN ATTITUDE ON THE PART OF AUTHORITIES
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6. (C) Usmanov admitted that when he was first brainstorming
the project last year, he never expected to receive
permission to conduct the training at schools. He believed

that authorities were encouraged to grant him permission
after President Karimov's decree on the UDHR was issued, but
he also credited a gradually-improving atmosphere for NGOs.
Embassy FSNs working on the Embassy's Democracy Commission
program also have been told by several NGO representatives in
different regions of the country that they have been given
the "green light" by authorities to apply for Embassy grants.

LONG-TERM INVESTMENT REQUIRED FOR HUMAN RIGHTS PROGRESS
-------------- --------------


7. (C) Usmanov stated his belief to poloff that progress on
human rights in Uzbekistan requires long-term investment and
a step-by-step approach of engagement with Uzbek authorities.
He believed the key was to raise human rights awareness
among the younger generation - who have been less influenced
by Soviet legacies and were more worldly in their outlook
than older generations - so that they begin to expect more
from their leaders. He was critical of other human rights
activists who focused exclusively on criticizing authorities,
an approach he felt was counterproductive because it
alienated officials and made cooperation with them more
difficult. In contrast, he believed that fostering such
cooperation was key to achieving human rights improvements in
Uzbekistan.

TRAININGS TEMPORARILY INTERRUPTED BY COTTON-PICKING
-------------- --------------


8. (C) Usmanov admitted that his trainings did face some
problems, noting that they were temporarily interrupted at
the schools in Zangiyat region after authorities pulled the
ninth-grade students out of school to pick cotton. He
reported that students at younger grades continued to attend
school in Zangiyat as normal, and that the trainings were not
interrupted at the school in Tashkent.

ACTIVIST'S SON IMPRISONED ON RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM CHARGES
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9. (C) Usmanov is a serious human rights activist who has
long reported on abuses in the country. His own son was
convicted twice on religious extremism charges and remains
imprisoned. Usmanov reported last seeing his son a year ago
at prison colony 68/46 in Navoi province, at which time he
appeared to be in good health. His son was recently
transferred for unknown reasons to Tashkent's Tashturma
prison, and Usmanov has so far been unable to visit him.
Usmanov noted that so-called "religious prisoners" were no
longer being kept separately from other prisoners, but were
still being singled out for abuse.

NGO CONDUCTS HUMAN RIGHTS TRAINING FOR POLICE OFFICERS
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10. (C) The Embassy's Democracy Commission also provided a
grant this year for an anti-human trafficking NGO in Jizzakh
province to conduct human rights trainings for local law
enforcement officials. On October 2, poloff met in Jizzakh
with the head of the NGO, Nazifa Kamalova, who reported that
the trainings, which focused on international human rights
norms, were well-attended by officials. Kamalova planned to
conduct a total of 12 trainings for more than 300 Ministry of
Internal Affairs officers. In addition, she planned to
organize two round-table discussions on human rights with
local officials, mahalla (neighborhood committee)
representatives, students, and NGO leaders. In organizing
the human rights trainings, Kamalova explained that she was
able to draw upon the productive relationships that she had
developed with law enforcement agencies while conducting
previous trainings on trafficking-in-persons. She also
offered to invite poloff to a future training session in

Jizzakh.

COMMENT
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11. (C) The success of the two Democracy Commission grant
recipients in engaging local authorities on human rights
projects demonstrates that such cooperation - while never
easy - is not impossible either. It is also indicative of a
slowly improving environment for local NGOs in Uzbekistan.
We agree with Usmanov that progress on human rights in
Uzbekistan will require a patient step-by-step approach of
engagement with local officials. The immediate payoffs of
such cooperation may be modest, but these are long-term
investments that hopefully will foster trust and eventually
translate into more meaningful cooperation down the road.
While we admire the brave work done by many human rights
activists in reporting abuses in Uzbekistan, such efforts by
themselves are unlikely to result in improvements. What we
need is more projects that seek to engage local officials on
human rights.
NORLAND