UZBEKISTAN: HEAD OF ODIHR QUIETLY PLANNING VISIT AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TASHKENT 000997 SIPDIS AMEMBASSY HELSINKI PASS TO AMCONSUL ST PETERSBURG AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PASS TO AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PASS TO AMCONSUL YEKATERINBURG AMEMBASSY BELGRADE PASS TO AMEMBASSY PODGORICA AMEMBASSY ATHENS PASS TO AMCONSUL THESSALONIKI E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/06/16 TAGS: PREL PHUM OSCE PGOV UZ SUBJECT: UZBEKISTAN: HEAD OF ODIHR QUIETLY PLANNING VISIT AND INCREASED ENGAGEMENT REF: TASHKENT 279 CLASSIFIED BY: Timothy P. Buckley, Second Secretary, Department of State, Political and Economic Section; REASON: 1.4(B),(D) ¶1. (C) Summary: The Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Ambassador in Uzbekistan, Istvan Venczel, told us that the Director of ODIHR is quietly planning to visit Tashkent and meet with high-ranking officials in July. The visit could set the stage for OSCE election monitoring this December and increase engagement in the human dimension. The OSCE Representative on Media Freedom also recently visited Tashkent, where he raised the case of imprisoned journalist Salidjahon Abdurakhmanov. An official at the Tashkent OSCE office also noted that 10 Ambassadors who visited Uzbekistan on a tour of Central Asia had distinctly different impressions about the country and OSCE's activities here. End summary. ODIHR Head May Visit -------------- ¶2. (C) Poloff spoke with Ambassador Venczel of the OSCE Project Coordination Office in Tashkent on June 7, who confided that the Director of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR),Janez Lenarcic, is planning a trip to Tashkent in July. The agenda will include possible monitoring of Uzbekistan's parliamentary elections this December but also possible expanded direct engagement between the Government of Uzbekistan and the Warsaw-based ODIHR on other human dimension projects. Negotiations continue with the Government of Uzbekistan about the details of such a trip, so Venczel asked that the information be protected. ¶3. (C) Venczel noted that Lenarcic's visit would be a welcome opportunity to expand overall engagement between OSCE and Uzbekistan, particularly in the human dimension where the host government is particularly reticent. Venczel also believes Lenarcic will be patient and open to engagement with the Uzbeks, which is in contrast to what Venczel thought was a more aggressive stance that ODIHR Human Rights Advisor Pavel Hatsuk urged during his visit last week to Tashkent. Hatsuk told Venczel that perhaps OSCE should close down the mission in Uzbekistan if the country was unwilling to fully abide by or accept the organization's principles. Venczel, who has worked over the past 18 months on gradually rebuilding trust for the small mission, disagreed, and noted "the time window for that passed when we renegotiated the agreement" (which established the project coordination office with a limited mandate). Media Freedom Rep Raises Case of Concern -------------- -------------- ¶4. (C) Poloff by chance sat next to OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Miklos Haraszti on May 26 on a plane, who was en route to Tashkent to participate in an OSCE-sponsored workshop on the role of digital technology in mass media in Bukhara on May 27-28. Haraszti said a primary reason for his trip to Tashkent, however, was to raise the case of imprisoned journalist Salidjahon Abdurakhmanov, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Karakalpakstan Province on what we believe were politically motivated and unsubstantiated charges (reftel). "Let's be honest," Haraszti said, "there is not any substantive digital media prevalent in Uzbekistan." Yet the event gave him an opportunity to visit and raise the case on the margins, which Ambassador Venczel reported on May 29 did indeed happen. Haraszti did so quietly rather than try to embarrass the Government of Uzbekistan in the course of the event, which would likely have only made things worse for the imprisoned journalist. Haraszti told poloff that he did TASHKENT 00000997 002 OF 002 not rule out raising this case during a Permanent Council meeting if there is no action from the Uzbeks. Ambassadors from Vienna Visit Uzbekistan -------------- -------------- ¶5. (C) Bernard Rouault, the Senior Project Officer at the Tashkent OSCE office, told poloff on June 5 that he had his hands full with the recent visit by 10 OSCE Ambassadors from Vienna on their tour of Central Asia. The group included Vienna-based Ambassadors from Greece, Belgium, Sweden, Canada, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Norway, and Spain (in addition to the U.S. Charge d'Affaires). Significantly, the majority of these countries do not have embassies in Tashkent, so it was an important opportunity for them to experience Uzbekistan firsthand. Some of the Ambassadors were vocal about liking certain projects while others specifically disliked the same activities, and Rouault found it difficult to provide satisfactory answers to the group. Having come from neighboring Tajikistan, which has a much more robust OSCE mission, Rouault said it was also difficult to give some of the Ambassadors the context of the difficult local working environment. Comment: -------------- ¶6. (C) OSCE sent a limited observation mission to the 2007 Presidential elections after a very late invitation, so it is a good sign that the ODIHR Director is willing to come out earlier in the year and engage with the Uzbeks on a variety of human dimension possibilities. However, with the Kazakhs set to take over the Chairmanship next year we do not expect Uzbekistan to substantially increase interaction with OSCE in the near future. We appreciate that Haraszti raised the Abdurakhmanov case, as we have done as well, which may help build the international pressure to at least include him in a future amnesty if not release him outright. NORLAND