UZBEKISTAN: ACTIVISTS SEEK TO BRIDGE GOVERNMENT AND CIVIL

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019-02-19
TAGS: PHUM EAID ECON KDEM PGOV PREL SOCI UZ
SUBJECT: UZBEKISTAN: ACTIVISTS SEEK TO BRIDGE GOVERNMENT AND CIVIL
SOCIETY

REF: a) 08 TAHSKENT 1454

CLASSIFIED BY: Richard Fitzmaurice, Poloff; REASON: 1.4(B),(D)


1. (C) Summary: The Ambassador recently met with activists from
the independent Rapid Reaction human rights group (RRG),who
described their plans for the upcoming year, including applying for
official registration and setting up a "think-tank" with
like-minded activists and defense attorneys to raise the
professionalism of analytical reporting on human rights, legal
reform, and socio-economic conditions. The RRG is less cynical
about this year's parliamentary elections (scheduled for December)
than observers have been in the past. The RRG also seeks continued
U.S. support, which is warranted. End summary.



RAPID REACTION GROUP WILL ATTEMPT TO REGISTER

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2. (C) On February 9, the Ambassador met with representatives of
the Rapid Reaction human rights group (RRG) - including
Bukhara-based activist Shukhrat Ganiev, Ferghana-based activist
Abdusalom Ergashev, and Tashkent-based activist Sukhrob Ismoilov -
to discuss their plans for this year, including attempting to
register their organization and setting up a "think-tank" with the
participation of other activists and progressive defense attorneys
to provide more professional analytic reporting on human rights,
legal reforms, and socio-economic conditions, including labor
migration and human trafficking.



PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN DECEMBER TO BE MAJOR FOCUS

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3. (C) The activists said that the Parliamentary Elections
scheduled for December will be a major focus of their attention
this year. In contrast to previous years, when activists trashed
elections as meaningless and the government trashed activists and
claimed (unconvincingly) that elections are conducted according to
international standards, the activists said they planned to pursue
an "honest and open debate" with officials on reforming the
electoral system. The Ambassador suggested that the activists
reach out to and explore cooperation with Sayfiddin Juraev, the
head of the state-controlled Fund for Regional Studies, who will
co-sponsor two conferences with USAID support that will focus on
political party development and the December parliamentary
elections.



ACTIVISTS SEEK TO BRIDGE GOVERNMENT AND CIVIL SOCIETY

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4. (C) The RRG activists explained that their long-term goal,
which they shared with other independent human rights groups -
including Ezgulik, Mothers Against the Death Penalty and Torture,
and defense attorneys associated with the newly created
state-controlled Chambers of Lawyers - was to serve as a bridge
"between civil society and government authorities." They noted
that for too long, independent civil society and government



officials have viewed each other as enemies and have had little
contact. Biased reporting from "independent" human rights
defenders, many with a political agenda, only fueled the
government's paranoia about independent groups planning color
revolutions in Uzbekistan. In contrast, RRG and its partners seek
to adopt a less confrontational tone and explore areas of possible
dialogue and cooperation with government reformers. They
recognized that progress will be slow and that abuses are likely to
continue even as they seek engagement, but they believe this is the
only effective long-term approach for encouraging the government to
implement reforms and curb abuses. By raising the quality of human
rights and analytical reporting, RRG and the other groups hope to
be taken more seriously by government officials and demonstrate to
them that their only agenda is promoting human rights. The
activists stressed that they wished to conduct more conferences and
trainings in Uzbekistan itself and believed that the Uzbek
bureaucracy was slowly opening up to more cooperation. By way of
example, the activists noted some recent success holding events in
Tashkent with participation of government officials (reftel).




5. (C) One of RRG's current partners, Ezgulik, which remains the
only registered independent human rights group in the country, is
affiliated with the Birlik opposition party. RRG is aware of the
contradiction, and relations between the two groups have often been
strained, though they now appear to be cooperating more closely
since restarting offshore Freedom House trainings with each other
last summer. Ezgulik, mostly in-line with Birlik, has vacillated
in its attitude towards the government, at times taking a more
hard-line and confrontational approach, at other times stressing
the need for dialogue with the Karimov regime.



BRITISH EMBASSY TAKING A LOW PROFILE ON HUMAN RIGHTS

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6. (C) The RRG activists observed that they have had difficulty
arranging a similar meeting with the British Ambassador in Tashkent
and asked the Ambassador to intervene on their behalf with the
British Embassy, which he did later that day. The activists noted
that in general, the British Embassy in Tashkent appears to have
disengaged somewhat on human rights. The Ambassador noted that the
current British Ambassador, a talented and experienced diplomat who
most recently served as the British Ambassador to Belarus, is
intensely interested in human rights but has adopted a more
cautious profile in Tashkent, following the Craig Murray debacle,
in which a previous British Ambassador's confrontational stance on
human rights issues all but severed UK relations with Uzbekistan.



ACTIVISTS BENEFIT FROM FREEDOM HOUSE TRAININGS

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7. (C) After the meeting with the Ambassador, the activists told
poloff that they were continuing to benefit from off-shore training
in Turkey with Freedom House (in fact, the activists had just
returned from such a training). They noted that fewer, but more
committed, activists and defense attorneys were continuing the
offshore training, which began last summer. Currently, the
trainings are being used to formulate their ideas to form an



analytic think-tank and to encourage further cooperation between
activists and defense attorneys in specific regions of the country.




OBSERVATION ON SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS

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8. (C) Ergashev noted that socio-economic conditions continue to
worsen in the Ferghana Valley, which he believed could result in
more protests by citizens over utilities (including electricity and
heating gas, supplies of which are often limited in Uzbekistan's
provinces during the winter),rising prices, and unemployment
(Note: Such protests, which tend to occur more frequently during
the winter, have been reported this year in the provinces, but less
so than during last year's particularly severe winter. End note.).
He noted that the situation could potentially worsen as laborers,
many of whom previously migrated for work to Russia and Kazakhstan,
are increasingly unable to find work abroad due to the worldwide
economic crisis.




9. (C) The activists also noted that the government appears to be
increasingly short of funds to pay pensions, evidenced by an
unpublicized change to the pension system that went into effect on
January 1. Previously, an individual's pension at time of
retirement was determined by their average salary for all years
they worked, both during the Soviet era and after independence.
However, pensions for those retiring now will only be determined by
calculating an individual's average salary since independence,
which will lower the government's pensions obligations.



COMMENT

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10. (C) We believe the RRG has the right long-term goals and a
realistic approach towards achieving them over the long term. We
will continue to look for ways to support them as one element of
our human rights promotion efforts in Uzbekistan.
NORLAND

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