On December 13-15, 2001, an international conference "Human Rights and Strategy of the Human Rights Movement in Uzbekistan" was held in the Alatau sanatorium, Almaty, Kazakhstan. The conference was organized jointly by the Memorial Human Rights Center (Russia) and Kazakhstan's International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law.

Day 1 of the Conference

A total of 55 human rights activists took part in the conference, including 29 from Uzbekistan, six from Kazakhstan, four from Kyrgyzstan, two from Tadjikistan, one from Turkmenistan, five from Russia. Another eight represented international organizations, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, International League for Human Rights, International Crisis Group and others.

On December 13, during the plenary sessions, the participants discussed the general situation with the work of Uzbekistan's human rights groups as well as their current strategies. Representatives of these groups expressed their view that the war being waged in Afghanistan has not caused major changes in Uzbekistan's internal politics. A number of participants pointed to the lack of official registration of human rights organizations as the main obstacle to their activity. They expressed hope that the registration issue could be resolved in view of the prospect of a more close cooperation between the Uzbek government and Western countries. One of the ideas suggested at the conference as a way of assisting the work of local human rights activists was the creation in Tashkent of a human rights resource center under the auspices of a major international organization. Several other suggestions were also made.

Working on a Resolution

On December 14, questions regarding an information network and identification of the needs of Uzbek NGOs were discussed. The participants supported the suggestion made by Memorial Human Rights Center to create abroad an informational and archive center as well as a single database on political and religious crackdowns in Uzbekistan. In addition, many expressed the urgent need to supply a number of regional human right groups with computers, communication equipment, and other kinds of technical assistance.

After the lunch break, representatives of foreign and international organizations gave presentations about their current work in Uzbekistan and their strategy for the future work.

During the first half of December 15, the conference's participants worked on the text of a resolution to be adopted and discussed the idea of creating a working group of Uzbek human rights organizations.

The conference in Almaty was the largest gathering of human rights activists from Uzbekistan since the Bishkek Conference held in 1992. It demonstrated the ability of Uzbek human rights organizations to have dialogue with each other and cooperate constructively with international organizations.

Conference's Participants at a Farewell Banquet

For more information contact Peter Zalmayev of ILHR, 212-661-0480, ext. 100; pzalmayev@ilhr.org

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