From Human Rights Watch

Central Asian leaders who are seeking greater regional cooperation and international investment to bolster economic growth should place human rights at the top of their agenda, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2019. In recent years, some of Central Asia’s leaders have focused on the need to improve infrastructure and education and modernize the region’s economy but have failed to show their commitment to a future built on rule of law and human rights.

In 2018, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan initiated greater cross-border cooperation and took notable steps to improve the domestic human rights situation. In neighboring Kyrgyzstan, blatant attacks on media and speech freedoms became less frequent in the first year of Soronbay Jeenbekov’s presidency, although other long-term human rights concerns were not addressed.

In the rest of the region, negative trends intensified, with Tajikistan and Turkmenistan continuing a slide into ever-more-repressive policies, and no meaningful human rights improvements in Kazakhstan. In 2018, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan followed Kazakhstan in seeking upgraded relations with the European Union.

“To improve the lives of Central Asia’s 105 million residents, human rights improvements need to go hand-in-hand with economic growth and regional cooperation,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Central Asia’s leadership should start by allowing critical voices to be heard and ending the worst abuses such as politically motivated imprisonment and torture.”

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