UZBEKISTAN: GRANT SUBMISSIONS FOR FY 2008 TAFT

UNCLAS TASHKENT 000608 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/CEN, DRL, AND PRM PRM FOR MATTHEW JOHNSON AND PASSY POMEROY E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREF PGOV PHUM PREL SOCI UZ SUBJECT: UZBEKISTAN: GRANT SUBMISSIONS FOR FY 2008 TAFT FUND FOR REFUGEES REF: A. STATE 35430 ¶B. STATE 6779 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Post solicited and received two submissions for the FY 2008 Taft Fund for Refugees (formerly the Ambassadors' Fund for Refugees) announced in reftels, one from the International Professional Education Development Assistance Center (PROFED) proposing to assist Afghan and Tajik refugees in Tashkent, and the other from Ayol va Zamon's Surkhandarya Regional Centre aimed at assisting Afghan refugees in Termez. The total amount requested for both programs is under 20,000 dollars. We believe that special consideration should be given to proposals for funding from local organizations in Uzbekistan, as the government in recent years has forced the closure of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office and many other international humanitarian organizations in the country. Refugees, particularly from Afghanistan, also continue to face harassment, social prejudices, and even deportation back to their home countries. End summary. SITUATION FOR AFGHAN AND TAJIK REFUGEES IN UZBEKISTAN -------------- -------------- ¶2. (U) Uzbek law does not provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol, and the government has not established a system for providing protection to refugees. Following the 2005 Andijon events, the government forced the closure of hundreds of local and international organizations, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Tashkent, which had assisted Uzbek refugees who had fled into Kyrgyzstan following the Andijon events. 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 thus 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. ¶3. (U) The government considered Afghan and Tajik refugee populations economic migrants and subjected them to 
harassment and bribery when they sought to regularize their status as legal residents. Most Tajik refugees were ethnic Uzbeks; unlike their Afghan counterparts, Tajik refugees were sometimes able to integrate into and were supported by the local population. Although most Tajik refugees did not face societal discrimination, many of them faced the possibility of becoming officially stateless, as many carried only old Soviet passports rather than Tajik passports. The UNHCR reported that Afghan refugees had no access to the legal labor force and therefore, had limited means to earn a livelihood. Afghan refugees routinely face harassment and discrimination, which has increased in recent years. In 2007, there were several reports of police detaining Afghan refugees and tearing up their UNHCR refugee certificates, stating they were meaningless. There were also several cases of Afghan refugees being forcibly deported back to Afghanistan, where they faced potential persecution. In late 2007 - early 2008, UNHCR also engaged in a re-evaluation of each and every Afghan refugee case to try and weed out the economic migrants among them. GRANT SUBMISSION FROM PROFED -------------- ¶4. (SBU) (a) Applicant: International Professional Education Development Assistance Center (PROFED) (b) Requested Funding: USD 15,000 (c) Project Title: Providing Assistance and Vocational Training for Refugees and Non-Citizens Residing in the Republic of Uzbekistan (Tashkent) (d) Project Duration: 6 months (e) Abstract: PROFED is an organization engaged in providing various forms of assistance to refugees and non-citizens, primarily of Afghan and Tajik origin, currently residing in Tashkent. The primary goals of the program are: to help protect the well-being of refugees by providing a place of refuge in Tashkent while concurrently providing assistance with resettlement and repatriation; to provide medical, social, and material support services; to address problems arising from the negative local perceptions and treatment of refugees as well their lack of citizenship; to provide general educational programs, including offering programs consisting of no less than 6 hours a day of professional education for refugees not attending local schools; to strive for a 95 percent graduation rate from PROFED educational programs, with the aim of at least 60 percent of graduates obtaining employment in Uzbekistan. More than 54 percent of school age refugee children in Uzbekistan do not attend local schools. This includes more than 98 percent of female refugees, 72 percent of whom lack even basic qualifications for employment. Children studying via the PROFED program are frequently unable to attend local schools, primarily due to their inability to speak local languages (Uzbek, Russian) and social prejudices which portray them as uneducated, unemployed, violent, and a source of crime. These perceptions rarely acknowledge the disenfranchisement and ostracism that refugees experience in Uzbekistan. By providing educational services to refugees, PROFED hopes to better integrate refugees into their community and help them secure employment. GRANT SUBMISSION FROM AYOL VA ZAMON -------------- ¶5. (SBU) (a) Applicant: Ayol va Zamon (Surkhandarya Regional Center for Increasing the Socio-Economic Activity of Women and Youth) (b) Requested Funding: USD 4,998 (c) Project Title: Organization of Professional and Legal Education to Support Refugees Residing in Termez (d) Project Duration: 6 months (e) Abstract: The Ayol va Zamon (AVZ) Surkhandarya Regional Center was established in 2000 with the goal of providing medical, material and educational assistance to refugees residing in the Surkandarya province of Uzbekistan, particularly Afghan refugees in Termez. AVZ reports that refugee living conditions in Surkandarya remain poor, and that unemployment continues to be a considerable source of vulnerability for refugee women. In particular, Afghan refugees face language and other barriers to accessing education and learning job skills. AVZ's proposal aims to increase refugees' employment opportunities in Termez by improving their vocational skills through four professional courses: sewing and embroidery, computer literacy, artistic embroidery (beadwork),and computer repair and servicing. AVZ aims to offer to train five refugee women in each of the four courses every month for six months, providing vocational training to a total of 120 refugees over six months. AVZ notes that decreasing unemployment will also improve the social status of the refugee women, reduce intra-family conflict, and help refugee families integrate into the local community. Ayol va Zamon also reports a significant gap in reproductive health knowledge within the refugee population in Termez. To address this knowledge gap, Ayol va Zamon proposes to organize six seminars on "Human Rights: Reproductive Rights," specifically on how and with whom to address reproductive health and rights issues. COMMENT -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Both PROFED and Ayol va Zamon have submitted strong proposals for the FY 2008 Taft Fund for Refugees that address the critical education, employment, and health needs of Afghan and Tajik refugees in the country. Both organizations have years of experience working with refugees in Uzbekistan and were recommended to poloff by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) office in Tashkent, which assumed responsibility for overseeing Uzbekistan's UNHCR mandate refugees after the departure of UNHCR in 2006. The two proposals are also complimentary in that each of them focuses on one of the two major refugee population centers in Uzbekistan: Tashkent and Termez. We believe that special consideration should be given to proposals for funding from local organizations in Uzbekistan, as the government in recent years has closed the UNHCR office and many other international humanitarian organizations in the country, forcing surviving local organizations like PROFED and Ayol va Zamon to pick up the slack. Refugees, particularly from Afghanistan, also continue to face considerable harassment, social prejudices, and even deportation back to their home countries. NORLAND