In a letter released on 4 October 1996 for the opening of an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) meeting in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent, Human Rights Watch/Helsinki said the OSCE would be giving tacit approval to strict government control of the media and fierce repression of free speech in Uzbekistan. Human […]
In a letter released on 4 October 1996 for the opening of an
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) meeting
in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent, Human Rights Watch/Helsinki said
the OSCE would be giving tacit approval to strict government
control of the media and fierce repression of free speech in
Uzbekistan. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki charged that OSCE’s human
rights arm, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human
Rights (ODIHR), undermined its own mandate by sponsoring a forum
at which only Uzbekistan government officials were to be invited
to speak and for failing to put the crucial issue of overt state
censorship on the agenda.
The two-day Round-Table on Media Issues in the Transition to
Democracy was to take as its starting-point “the role an
independent media can play in building democratic societies,” yet
censorship did not even appear on the agenda. Although censorship
is explicitly banned by the Uzbekistan constitution, censors
control newspapers, television and radio, and police and security
services harass, intimidate, fire, and sometimes beat journalists
for pursuing such banal lines of inquiry as the national inflation
rate. Censorship, coupled with political repression, is so much a
way of life for journalists that most of the time they censor
their own questions before they ask them.
The media workshop, organized jointly by OSCE’s ODIHR and the
Uzbekistan President’s Institute for Strategic and Regional
Studies, was to be dominated by government delegates and by chief
editors from the main newspapers and broadcast media. A number of
foreign media experts were to take part, but there was to be no
other participants in the debate, nor were interventions to be
allowed from the floor, according to Human Rights Watch/Helsinki.
No representative of the press censor — the State Control
Inspectorate — was even among the invited speakers to hear any
criticism that might possibly be raised by the OSCE or others.
“For the OSCE to knowingly sponsor such an event, and pave the way
for the truth to be grossly distorted, is tantamount to giving an
international seal of approval to the stifling of free expression
in the media in Uzbekistan. Their actions are inexplicable and
inexcusable, and do active detriment to human rights advocacy, a
process that has just begun in this country,” declared Holly
Cartner, executive director of Human Rights Watch/Helsinki.
The full text of the letter sent to Ambassador Audrey F. Glover,
OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, follows:
“Dear Ambassador Glover,
“On behalf of Human Rights Watch/Helsinki, I extend to you my best
regards on the occasion of the opening of the OSCE seminar `Media
Issues in the Transition to Democracy.’
“Human Rights Watch has followed with great interest the work
which the OSCE and specifically the Office of Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights have been doing in Uzbekistan. We
also note the personal interest you have taken in promoting the
human rights dialogue in that country. We welcome the expansion of
OSCE human rights work in Uzbekistan, and look forward to the
arrival of your new human rights officer in the Uzbekistan
capital, Tashkent. We will, for our part, offer all possible
assistance.
“While we see the OSCE input to the human rights debate in
Uzbekistan as in the main very positive and constructive, we are
concerned that this seminar deviates strongly from OSCE goals and
generally from the interests of human rights protection. We
believe that the topic of the media is particularly well suited
for Uzbekistan at this point in its history since it identifies
one of the government’s most widespread instruments of abuse:
denial of free speech. State control of the media violates both
international human rights obligations and Article 67 of its own
constitution, which states categorically that `the mass media
shall be free… censorship is impermissible.’
“At the same time, we are very much concerned that the Round-Table
on Media Issues in the Transition to Democracy, at which you will
give the opening address on October 4, stands in danger of placing
the OSCE/ODIHR imprimatur on a situation which could in fact
hardly be less deserving of perceived international recognition:
that of the media in Uzbekistan. As you will be aware, the press
and broadcast media there have changed little since Soviet times
in terms of the scope for free expression. Censorship is
omnipresent: in the figure of the television editor who cuts
reports into the appropriate, politically anemic shape, and in the
form of officials not employed by any newspaper yet who edit all
of the main dailies, from masthead to sports pages, before they
can go to press. For inquiring about issues that would be
considered wholly banal in non-repressive countries, such as the
country’s inflation rate, journalists are hounded, threatened with
loss of their jobs, harm to their families, and some have been
beaten. Censorship, coupled with political repression, is so much
a way of life for journalists that most of the time they censor
their own questions before they ask them. This leads to the
insidious practice of self-censorship. The practice is so
widespread that recent calls by President Islam Karimov for
journalists to genuinely challenge government policies are wholly
disingenuous.
“The most updated seminar agenda we have seen indicates that the
principal invitees to this forum are Uzbekistan government
officials, senior television, radio, and newspaper editors, and
several foreign experts. However, no interventions from anyone but
this small group of participants will be possible; outsiders can
apply to attend only as silent observers, and then only by
securing the approval of Uzbek officials, who clearly will tailor
the list in their own favor. Therefore, while we are sure that you
and other foreigners will raise concern about censorship and other
media-related human rights abuse, the dialogue is likely to be
something of a foregone conclusion: overwhelmed by Uzbekistan
government calls for tinkering with the trappings of media in
transitional governments, such as journalist training programs,
with most of the strong criticism by foreign observers glossed
over or entirely omitted in subsequent media reports. Human Rights
Watch/Helsinki believes that, on the contrary, the starting point
for discussion must be the government’s abusive practices: strict
censorship, arbitrary closing of “undesirable” publications, such
as Vesti Kul’tury, the publication of the independent Russian
Centre this year, and harassment of journalists.
“The limited guest list and, consequently, likely restricted
dialogue, would be regrettable enough were the seminar solely a
project organized and funded by the Uzbekistan government.
However, OSCE involvement lends both international credibility and
funding to a dialogue which will overwhelmingly benefit, not
censure, the Uzbekistan government. We believe it is incumbent
upon the OSCE to impose its own, higher standards at all times —
standards that are derived first and foremost from international
conventions. We therefore must protest the failure of the OSCE to
insure that independent actors and, ideally, local journalists
themselves, have the opportunity to publicly challenge the
government perspective that will be the centerpiece of the
seminar.
“Since the round-table is unlikely to alter in focus at this
stage, Human Rights Watch/Helsinki has, with regret, taken the
decision not to send an observer, since that person must be
silent. We want to distance ourselves from an essentially
government-dominated event which in reality is not likely to
improve the position of journalists or free speech. In lieu of a
personal presence, we take the opportunity now to submit to you
the recommendations made in our report on the media, which will be
released in conjunction with the seminar. Specifically, we
respectfully ask you to call on the government of Uzbekistan to
take the following short-term steps to comply with its domestic
and international obligations to uphold free speech rights and
protect and help develop the independent media:
“Immediately abolish the State Control Inspectorate (press censor)
and all analogous censorship organizations;
“Give public assurances that journalists, photo-journalists and
staff working for foreign correspondents are not harassed for the
peaceful expression of their opinions and practice of their
profession;
“Vigorously investigate and prosecute reports of harassment and
beatings of such individuals, and make the results of those
investigations public;
“Immediately lift the ban on prohibited newspapers such as Erk and
Mustaqil Haftalik, and end persecution of such publications’
writers, sponsors, editors and distributors for their possession
and dissemination;
“Immediately print the full texts of human rights documents, such
as the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, in the mass circulation
press in Uzbekistan in the Uzbek and Russian languages.
“Thank you in advance for your consideration of the concerns we
have raised in this letter. We welcome your comments on the above
issues and look forward to a continued relationship of open
dialogue and cooperation with the OSCE and ODIHR on these and
other important human rights issues. As always, please do not
hesitate to contact us if we can be of any assistance to you.”
Similar appeals expressing concerns at the seminar which just took
place can be sent to:
Appeals To
Ambassador Audrey F. Glover
Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
ul Krucza 36/Wspolna 600-522
Warsaw, Poland
Fax: +4822 625 43 57
and copied to:
His Excellency President Islam Karimov
Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Fax: +7 3712 395 525
Please copy appeals to the originator if possible.
