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Uzbekistan Again Recognised as 'Failed State'
Region: Uzbekistan
A News Briefing Central Asia Report Uzbekistan’s high position in a new list of so-called failed states can be attributed to a lack of democracy and the slow pace of economic development, say local observers. In late July, the influential American magazine Foreign Policy, and the research centre The Fund for Peace published their annual rating of failed states for 2008. Uzbekistan – which is still co... more
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Uzbek Defendants to Lose out in Legal Reform
Region: Uzbekistan
A News Briefing Central Asia Report A plan to reduce the role of “public defenders” – legal advocates who are not trained lawyers but are empowered to represent defendants in court – will make the judicial process in Uzbekistan more closed than ever, according to NBCentralAsia analysts. A meeting of the Uzbek Supreme Court’s ruling body on July 30 reviewed progress on a number of ongoi... more
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NGO Numbers Wane in Uzbekistan
Region: Uzbekistan
A News Briefing Central Asia report Uzbekistan is seeing a steady decline in the number of non-government organisations, NGOs, with a string of closures reported recently. Not only is the government hostile to any group with foreign links, it has blurred the lines with a semi-state umbrella body that manages the theoretically independent NGO sector On June 26, the electronic news bulletin Civil Society of Uzbekista... more
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No Sign of Change on Media Freedom
Region: Uzbekistan
Last week’s media forum in Uzbekistan, conceived and stage-managed by the government, was merely the pretence of a dialogue on freedom of speech, NBCentralAsia observers say. On June 9-10, a conference entitled “Media Freedom in Modern Democratic Society” took place in Tashkent. The original plan was to hold a media seminar in conjunction with the European Union, but this was postponed from lat... more
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Proposed Regional Grouping a Non-Starter
Region: Uzbekistan
Uzbek president Islam Karimov’s proposal to merge two associations of former Soviet states has come as a surprise to many observers, as his country has shown a distinct reluctance to be part of regional groupings. NBCentralAsia analysts say the initiative looks suspiciously like a way of promoting Uzbekistan’s own role in the region, and is unlikely to be taken up by other states. Karimov came out with the... more
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Role of Gazprom Remains Pivotal
Region: Uzbekistan
Although Tashkent is trying to drive a hard bargain with Russian gas company Gazprom, it has little alternative to working with the firm to develop and export Uzbekistan's oil and gas, NBCentralAsia energy experts say. In late May, a high-level Gazprom team led by company president Aleksei Miller visited Uzbekistan for talks on exploration work on the Ustyurt plateau in the northwest of the country. The Uzbek state p... more
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US Urged to Take Stronger Line on Human Rights in Uzebekistan
Region: Uzbekistan
Human rights activists in Uzbekistan say the United States should be taking a much tougher approach on human rights in the country. At the moment, they say, Tashkent is merely offering one-off, cosmetic concessions such as the release this week of leading human rights advocate Mutabar Tajibaeva. On June 2, Richard Boucher, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, concluded a visit to Uzbe... more
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Uzbekistan: Unwanted Changes
Region: Uzbekistan
by Tolkun After the disintegration of the USSR, the Soviet communist identity and ideology ceased to exist and the new countries confronted the vital problems of defining new identities and ideologies. Most of the ex-Soviet countries were quick to give up the past and embrace the new life with new national values and ideas. Uzbekistan was one of the few countries where a process of defining a new identity and setting ... more
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Uzbekistan: Blogging Fosters Freedom of Speech
Region: Uzbekistan
by Tolkun Recently, the U.S. State Department has ranked Uzbekistan among “top ten” of the most authoritarian countries in the world. During almost two decades of his reign, president I. Karimov and his clan have taken control of all spheres of life in the country – political, economic and social. Civil society, which emerged and was developing in the country after the collapse of Soviet Union, has f... more
Views: 840 Rating:
Uzbekistanis Fighting Internet Censorship
Region: UzbekistanPosted by Tolkun to Global Voices Online Today, Uzbekistan remains one of the repressive countries in a region that maintains a tight grip on mass media. Despite having all the nominal guarantees of the freedom of speech, the media is being systematically attacked by the government. The article 5 in the law of the Republic of Uzbekistan on mass media [ru] states that mass media in the country are free and can act free... more
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