IMG
03-04-2003, 02:53 PM
West Urged to Get Tougher on Uzbekistan
Wed Feb 19,10:06 AM ET
Jim Lobe,OneWorld US
In a report released Tuesday, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) charged that President Islam Karimov has failed to follow through on economic and political reforms that he promised to implement at a meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush last March. The talks came after Karimov permitted Washington to use a military base in Uzbekistan for its campaign to oust the Taliban regime in neighboring Afghanistan.
"Western embassies and governments are increasingly critical of the 'positive engagement' approach to Uzbekistan," said ICG's Asia Program Director Robert Templer. "With the U.S. need for a strategic partner fading, there is little to lose in taking a much tougher stance with President Karimov's government."
The report is being issued in advance of the annual meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to be held on May 4-5 in Uzbekistan's capital, Tashkent. EBRD, along with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), helps coordinate international assistance to the country.
Uzbekistan, Central Asia's most populous and militarily powerful state, has been ruled by Karimov since its independence from the Soviet Union 12 years ago. However, despite independence, the government continues to emulate the political, economic and judicial institutions of the Soviet era, according to the report, 'Uzbekistan's Reform Program: Illusion or Reality?'
"Many Soviet structures have been preserved from repressive law enforcement agencies to an economic system still dominated by the state," it said. At least 7,000 people are imprisoned for their religious or political beliefs; torture and brutality by police and in prisons are common, according to ICG, international human rights organizations, and the UN's Special Rapporteur on Torture who was permitted into Uzbekistan for the first time late last year.
A number of dissidents have been sentenced to death despite allegations that they were beaten and tortured into confessing while in detention, according to the ICG report, which also noted "small" improvements, including the visit of the Special Rapporteur and the registration of one human rights group last March.
The political front similarly shows few signs of progress. Shortly before traveling to Washington to meet Bush, Karimov won a referendum that extended his term in office by additional two years. International observers and western governments charged that the balloting was rigged. ICG said there was no indication that parliamentary elections scheduled for next year would be any freer than in the past.
The government has also failed to adopt economic reforms despite the strong encouragement by the international community. It failed to meet targets set by the IMF for improvements in agriculture and the banking and trade regimes, according to the report, which blamed its failures on a "political system dominated by vested interests at all levels that have a considerable investment in retaining the status quo."
Despite this record, however, western governments, particularly the Bush administration, have stood by the regime in part because of its cooperation in its anti-terrorist campaign, according to ICG.
"Western officials have tended to take President Karimov's pro-reform rhetoric at face value," said ICG's Central Asia Project Director David Lewis. "But Uzbekistan's future is bleak, and the risk of instability rises, unless serious political and economic reforms are implemented."
Wed Feb 19,10:06 AM ET
Jim Lobe,OneWorld US
In a report released Tuesday, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) charged that President Islam Karimov has failed to follow through on economic and political reforms that he promised to implement at a meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush last March. The talks came after Karimov permitted Washington to use a military base in Uzbekistan for its campaign to oust the Taliban regime in neighboring Afghanistan.
"Western embassies and governments are increasingly critical of the 'positive engagement' approach to Uzbekistan," said ICG's Asia Program Director Robert Templer. "With the U.S. need for a strategic partner fading, there is little to lose in taking a much tougher stance with President Karimov's government."
The report is being issued in advance of the annual meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to be held on May 4-5 in Uzbekistan's capital, Tashkent. EBRD, along with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), helps coordinate international assistance to the country.
Uzbekistan, Central Asia's most populous and militarily powerful state, has been ruled by Karimov since its independence from the Soviet Union 12 years ago. However, despite independence, the government continues to emulate the political, economic and judicial institutions of the Soviet era, according to the report, 'Uzbekistan's Reform Program: Illusion or Reality?'
"Many Soviet structures have been preserved from repressive law enforcement agencies to an economic system still dominated by the state," it said. At least 7,000 people are imprisoned for their religious or political beliefs; torture and brutality by police and in prisons are common, according to ICG, international human rights organizations, and the UN's Special Rapporteur on Torture who was permitted into Uzbekistan for the first time late last year.
A number of dissidents have been sentenced to death despite allegations that they were beaten and tortured into confessing while in detention, according to the ICG report, which also noted "small" improvements, including the visit of the Special Rapporteur and the registration of one human rights group last March.
The political front similarly shows few signs of progress. Shortly before traveling to Washington to meet Bush, Karimov won a referendum that extended his term in office by additional two years. International observers and western governments charged that the balloting was rigged. ICG said there was no indication that parliamentary elections scheduled for next year would be any freer than in the past.
The government has also failed to adopt economic reforms despite the strong encouragement by the international community. It failed to meet targets set by the IMF for improvements in agriculture and the banking and trade regimes, according to the report, which blamed its failures on a "political system dominated by vested interests at all levels that have a considerable investment in retaining the status quo."
Despite this record, however, western governments, particularly the Bush administration, have stood by the regime in part because of its cooperation in its anti-terrorist campaign, according to ICG.
"Western officials have tended to take President Karimov's pro-reform rhetoric at face value," said ICG's Central Asia Project Director David Lewis. "But Uzbekistan's future is bleak, and the risk of instability rises, unless serious political and economic reforms are implemented."