Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08TASHKENT1306
2008-11-13 11:47:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tashkent
Cable title:  

UZBEKISTAN: AFGHAN REFUGEES STILL ENDURE

Tags:  PREF PHUM PGOV PREL SOCI UNDP UNHCR AF TI UZ 
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RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC 0401
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC 0548
C O N F I D E N T I A L TASHKENT 001306 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA, DRL, PRM, AND DHS/USCIS
PRM FOR MATTHEW JOHNSON, MOSCOW FOR SUSANNE SINCLAIR-SMITH
AND SUSANNE GIBBONS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/13/2018
TAGS: PREF PHUM PGOV PREL SOCI UNDP UNHCR AF TI UZ
SUBJECT: UZBEKISTAN: AFGHAN REFUGEES STILL ENDURE
HARRASSMENT; DEPORTATIONS

REF: A. 07 TASHKENT 1975

B. TASHKENT 608

C. 07 TASHKENT 459

D. 07 TASHKENT 1494

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

C O N F I D E N T I A L TASHKENT 001306

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA, DRL, PRM, AND DHS/USCIS
PRM FOR MATTHEW JOHNSON, MOSCOW FOR SUSANNE SINCLAIR-SMITH
AND SUSANNE GIBBONS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/13/2018
TAGS: PREF PHUM PGOV PREL SOCI UNDP UNHCR AF TI UZ
SUBJECT: UZBEKISTAN: AFGHAN REFUGEES STILL ENDURE
HARRASSMENT; DEPORTATIONS

REF: A. 07 TASHKENT 1975

B. TASHKENT 608

C. 07 TASHKENT 459

D. 07 TASHKENT 1494

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


1. (C) Summary: The United Nations Development Program
(UNDP) office in Tashkent reports that Afghan refugees with
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) mandate
status in Uzbekistan continue to face harassment and
occasional deportation at the hands of authorities.
According to UNDP - which assumed responsibility for
monitoring the welfare of mandate refugees after UNHCR was
forced to close its office in Uzbekistan in 2006 - there are
approximately 944 mandate refugees, mostly Afghans, remaining
in the country. Many of the remaining mandate refugees are
reportedly ineligible for resettlement in third countries due
to past associations with the former Soviet puppet regime in
Afghanistan or are the children of such individuals. Poloff
also spoke with the directors of two local NGOs providing
humanitarian assistance to refugees, who explained that
growing numbers of new refugees without mandate status were
fleeing Afghanistan for Uzbekistan. In addition, they
reported that some stateless individuals from Tajikistan have
been granted Russian citizenship by the Russian Embassy in
Tashkent. We are disappointed that Afghan refugees in
Uzbekistan continue to face harassment and even deportation
at the hands of Uzbek authorities, but at least the
government has not carried out large-scale deportations of
Afghan refugees, which it threatened to do last year (ref A).


2. (C) Post continues to provide as much assistance as
possible to the remaining Afghan refugees. Through the State
Department's Taft Fund for Refugees (ref B),post has given
20,000 dollars in funding this year to support the operations

of the two local NGOs providing humanitarian assistance to
refugees. A team from DHS/USCIS will be in Tashkent next
week to interview some of the remaining Afghan refugees (and
other asylum seekers) for possible resettlement in the United
States. End summary.

UNDP REPORTS AFGHAN REFUGEES STILL HARRASSED, DEPORTED
-------------- --------------


3. (C) During a recent meeting, UNDP Deputy
Resident Representative Kyoko Postill told poloff that Afghan
refugees in Uzbekistan continue to face harassment and
occasional deportation at the hands of Uzbek authorities.
According to her, in the past four months, at least four
families of Afghan refugees have been forcibly deported from
Uzbekistan to Afghanistan, while the number of refugees that
have been temporarily detained by Uzbek authorities is much
higher. UNDP has sent complaint letters to the MFA following
each detention, but so far it has not received any response
from the MFA.


4. (U) Note: In 2006, Uzbek authorities forced the closure
of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
office in Tashkent after it assisted Uzbek refugees who fled
into Kyrgyzstan following the 2005 Andijon events. Since
that time, the UNDP office in Tashkent has monitored the
welfare of refugees with UNHCR mandate certificates in
Uzbekistan. In March 2007, the government announced that
UNHCR mandate certificates would not be considered as the
basis for extended legal residence, and persons carrying such
certificates must apply for the appropriate visa or face
deportation. The government appeared to be effectively
ending an agreement with the UNHCR in place since 1999, under

which the government had tolerated the presence of mandate
refugees despite not having ratified the 1951 Convention on
Refugees and its 1967 protocol. In 2007, there were several
reports of police detaining Afghan refugees and forcibly
deporting them back to Afghanistan (refs A, C, and D). End
note.

SOME, BUT NOT ALL, AFGHAN REFUGEES ARE ECONOMIC REFUGEES
-------------- --------------


5. (C) The Uzbek government frequently complains that the
Afghan refugees in Uzbekistan are economic refugees,
according to Postill. She admitted that some of the Afghan
"refugees" in Uzbekistan were wealthy individuals who
traveled back and forth between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan
for business. However, she believed that these businessmen
were a minority, not a majority, of the remaining Afghan
refugees. UNDP conducted a validation study in early 2008 to
weed out economic migrants among the Afghan refugees and as a
result, some individuals were removed from the list of UNHCR
mandate refugees. She believed that the businessmen who were
removed from the list could easily afford to purchase Uzbek
visas to normalize their status inside of Uzbekistan.

MANY OF REMAINING REFUGEES INELIBIGLE FOR RESETTLEMENT
-------------- --------------


6. (C) According to UNDP's records, there were approximately
944 mandate refugees, mostly Afghans, remaining in Uzbekistan
(Note: This is decline from the 1,284 mandate refugees which
was reported in July 2007, see ref D. End note.) Postill
believed that many of the remaining Afghan refugees were
ineligible for resettlement in the United States or other
countries because of their past associations with the Khad,
the intelligence service of the Soviet puppet "People's
Democratic Republic of Afghanistan" regime. She reported
that UNDP and UNHCR were still encouraging other countries,
including Norway and Sweden, to accept additional refugees,
but she believed that at least half of the remaining refugees
would be difficult to resettle because of their past
associations.

UNDP STILL INVESTIGATING OTHER OPTIONS
--------------


7. (C) Given the continued pressure on Afghan mandate
refugees and the difficulty of resettling them in third
countries, UNDP and UNHCR have reportedly examined other
options. Postill explained that UNDP and UNHCR tried to
encourage some of the Afghan refugees to voluntarily return
home, but only a few families have so far done so. UNDP also
has encouraged the Uzbek government to grant Uzbek
citizenship to those Afghans who have married Uzbek citizens,
but to no avail. Postill noted that if the government does
move to deport large number of mandate refugees, UNDP will
have to consider taking more drastic measures, including
moving the remaining refugees to either Kyrgyzstan or
Kazakhstan. However, she said that UNDP was only discussing
this possibility internally at the moment. She also added
that UNHCR was consolidating its operations in Central Asia
in Almaty and could close its office in Bishkek.

NGOS CONFIRM UNDP'S REPORTS ON AFGHAN REFUGEES
-------------- -


8. (C) Poloff also met recently with the heads of two NGOs
providing humanitarian assistance to Afghan refugees in
Uzbekistan: the Tashkent-based International Professional
Education Development Assistance Center (PROFED) and the

Termez-based Ayol va Zamon Surkhandarya Regional Center for
Increasing the Socio-Economic Activity of Women and Youth.
The NGO directors confirmed that UNHCR mandate refugees from
Afghanistan continue to face harassment and occasional
deportation at the hands of Uzbek authorities. PROFED
directors Pavel Ionkin and Natalya Krokhmal and Ayol va Zamon
Chairperson Gulnora Khodjaniyazova noted one extreme case
where Afghan refugees who had already been selected for
resettlement in Canada - including six families from Tashkent
and two families from Termez - were deported earlier this
year to Afghanistan by Uzbek authorities. As far as the NGOs
knew, the individuals were still in Afghanistan and have not
yet been resettled in Canada.


9. (C) According to the NGOs, the refugees continue to
experience frequent harassment, including authorities tearing
up their UNHCR mandate certificates. UNDP has reportedly
issued the Afghans new mandate certificates after they have
been destroyed by Uzbek authorities. The NGOs also operate
hotlines that refugees can call when they are in trouble.
The NGO directors explained that Afghan refugees are held at
the Bektamir detention facility in Tashkent, where, according
to Uzbek law, they can be kept for up to six months before
being deported. The NGO directors reported that, in some
instances, they have been able to intervene on behalf of
refugees and have them released, including by paying bribes
when necessary. The PROFED directors said that they had
visited Bektamir on one occasion, and found conditions there
to be tolerable, "no different than any other prison or
detention facility in Uzbekistan." The PROFED directors
added that they had approached the Afghan Embassy in Tashkent
on behalf of Afghan refugees, but found that it was generally
reluctant to provide assistance.

COMPOSITION OF MANDATE REFUGEES FROM AFGHANISTAN
-------------- ---


10. (C) Of the roughly 1,000 mandate refugees remaining in
Uzbekistan, the NGO directors reported that most of them
either had ties with the Khad or were the children of such
individuals. Roughly two-thirds of the mandate refugees were
adults, while one-third of them were children. Most of the
refugees lived in Tashkent, while approximately 150 of them
lived in Termez, according to Khodjaniyazova. The NGO
directors noted that the overall number of mandate refugees
in Uzbekistan has declined considerably from 2006 - when more
than 2,000 of them lived in Uzbekistan - thanks to
resettlement in third countries, including the United States.

MOST AFGHAN REFUGEES STRUGGLE TO SUPPORT THEMSELVES
-------------- --------------


11. (C) The NGO directors noted that many Afghan refugees
struggled to make ends meet in Uzbekistan. Most of them
cannot find work, while their children are unable to attend
Uzbek schools. The refugees also experience social
prejudice, as many Uzbeks view them as criminals or drug
users. The PROFED directors reported that UNHCR and UNDP
provided some limited financial aid to the mandate refugees,
providing each family with between 30 and 50 dollars a month.
Ionkin and Krokhmal noted that many of the refugees suffered
from medical and mental ailments, and that it was difficult
for them to receive appropriate treatment.


12. (C) The NGO directors acknowledged that some of the
Afghans were economic refugees, but noted that they were a
minority. They also explained that many of the refugees were
still afraid to return to Afghanistan. Ionkin and Krokhmal
reported that a 2005 survey of refugees showed that only 2

percent of them wished to return. They added that some of
those who have been deported by Uzbek authorities have
returned to Uzbekistan again due to safety concerns.

NEW AFGHAN REFUGEES REPORTEDLY CROSSING THE BORDER
-------------- --------------


13. (C) The NGO directors said that growing numbers of new
refugees from Afghanistan, who lacked mandate status, were
coming to Uzbekistan. While some of the new individuals are
economic refugees, others are reportedly fleeing the growing
violence in Afghanistan. These new Afghan refugees are
unable to acquire mandate status in Uzbekistan, due to the
closure of UNHCR's office in 2006. PROFED has assisted some
of the new refugees travel to UNHCR's office in Bishkek,
Kyrgyzstan, to receive mandate certificates and await
resettlement in third countries. However, the NGO directors
said that many of the new Afghan refugees have been detained
and deported by Uzbek authorities.

TAJIK REFUGEES AND STATELESS PERSONS
--------------


14. (C) The NGOs reported that the situation for Tajik
refugees, most of whom came to Uzbekistan during the Tajik
civil war in the 1990s, was much less severe than for Afghan
refugees. Unlike the Afghan refugees, many of the Tajik
refugees are ethnic Uzbeks, and therefore face fewer social
prejudices and are generally able to assimilate into local
communities and find work, albeit illegally. Many of the
Tajik refugees have only old Soviet Union passports and have
become stateless. According to the NGOs, there were roughly
250 stateless persons registered with UNHCR in Uzbekistan,
almost all Tajik refugees. In addition, the NGOs estimated
that there were approximately 3,000 unregistered cases of
stateless persons from Tajikistan in Uzbekistan.

SOME STATELESS INDIVIDUALS RECEIVE RUSSIAN CITIZENSHIP
-------------- --------------


15. (C) The NGO directors reported that some Tajik refugees
with old USSR passports have been granted Russian citizenship
by the Russian Embassy in Tashkent. They noted that the
process for receiving Russian citizenship was complicated and
required paying a significant registration fee.


16. (C) Poloff knows personally one Tajik refugee, the
husband of an Embassy employee (protect),who was granted
Russian citizenship after living in Uzbekistan for many years
as a stateless individual. Uzbek authorities refused to
grant the husband Uzbek citizenship, despite the fact that he
was ethnically Uzbek and married to an Uzbek citizen.
Roughly five years ago, the husband was granted Russian
citizenship and a passport by the Russian Embassy in
Tashkent. The Embassy employee added that she knew several
other stateless individuals from Tajikistan in Uzbekistan who
have likewise been granted Russian citizenship over the
years. The Embassy employee believed that Tajik refugees
could freely return to Tajikistan and receive Tajik
citizenship (she knew of at least one case of this
occurring),but she noted that most of the refugees were
reluctant to return to Tajikistan due to bleak economic
prospects there.


17. (C) Recently, however, the husband has faced serious
difficulties renewing his Russian passport and is in danger
of becoming stateless again. Russian Embassy officials
refused to renew his passport last month, claiming that his
name did not appear in an internal list of Russian citizens

in Uzbekistan. The Embassy employee reported hearing rumors
that officials at the Russian Embassy have demanded bribes in
exchange for granting Russian passports to individuals in
Tashkent and speculated they would also seek to eventually
extort a bribe from her husband (Note: We are unable to
confirm these rumors. End note.) Last week, two officials
at the Russian Embassy in Tashkent, including the Consul,
were killed in a car accident in southern Kazakhstan.
Afterwards, a local employee at the Russian Embassy
reportedly told the husband that their consular section was
"in chaos" and it would be several weeks before they would be
able to review his case again.

NGOS RECEIVE FUNDING FROM TAFT FUND FOR REFUGEES
-------------- ---


18. (C) On behalf of PROFED and Ayol va Zamon, post applied
for and received a total of 20,000 dollars in funding through
the State Department's Taft Fund for Refugees. PROFED
received 15,000 dollars, including for assisting refugees
with resettlement and repatriation; offering medical, social,
and material support services to refugees; and providing
their children with general educational programs. Ayol va
Zamon received 5,000 dollars to increase refugees' employment
opportunities by improving their vocational skills through
four professional courses: sewing and embroidery, computer
literacy, artistic embroidery (beadwork),and computer repair
and servicing (ref B). Post distributed the funds to both
NGOs in August.

COMMENT
--------------


19. (C) We are disappointed to hear that Afghan refugees in
Uzbekistan continue to face harassment and even deportation
at the hands of authorities, but at least the government has
not carried out large-scale deportations of the remaining
UNHCR mandate refugees, which it threatened to do last year
(ref A). Over the past two years, more than half of the
mandate Afghan refugees have been resettled in the United
States and other countries. A team from DHS/USCIS will be in
Tashkent next week to interview some of the remaining Afghan
refugees (and other asylum seekers) for possible resettlement
in the United States, but as noted by UNDP and the NGOs, many
of the refugees may be ineligible due to their past
associations. If the pressure on the remaining mandate
refugees becomes more severe, UNDP may be forced to consider
taking more drastic measures, including moving the refugees
to Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan. The United States also should
encourage other countries, including Norway and Sweden, to
accept greater numbers of Afghan refugees from Uzbekistan.
In the meanwhile, we also will continue to support the
efforts of local NGOs like PROFED and Ayol va Zamon that
provide critical humanitarian assistance to refugees in
Uzbekistan.
NORLAND