"Volunteering" On the Rise in Uzbekistan
Region: UzbekistanBy News Briefing Central Asia - News Briefing Central Asia 7 Feb 13 Teachers and other public-sectors professionals in Uzbekistan have always been forced to take part in notionally voluntary community tasks. But they say their unpaid labour has been called on increasingly since last autumn, as the authorities... more
Views: 501Uzbekistan:Shortage of HIV Drugs
Region: UzbekistanBy News Briefing Central Asia A shortage of retroviral medicines used to treat HIV/AIDS in Uzbekistan is being put down to the government’s policy of understating national infection rates, and hence the amount of drugs it needs to buy. The modern treatment method for people with HIV or AIDS is based on a combination of medical substances and is known as highly-active antiretroviral therapy, or ... more
Views: 551Kyrgyz-Uzbek Border Area Mired Conflict
Region: UzbekistanRow over location of electricity poles erupts into violence, reflecting deeper tensions in Kyrgyz-Uzbek border areas. By Altynai Myrzabekova, Inga Sikorskaya, Anvar Khaldarov After skirmishes earlier this week in a pocket of Uzbek territory inside Kyrgyzstan, observers say the situation remains uneasy. While this localised conflict has been prevented from escalating, experts say the ... more
Views: 847Uzbekistan’s Secret Service in Prisons
Region: UzbekistanRights activists says Tashkent security men interrogate detainees and abduct asylum-seekers in Russia with impunity. By News Briefing Central Asia Officers from Uzbekistan’s secret service are being allowed to interrogate and mistreat people held in Russian prisons, according to the Moscow-based human rights group Memorial The group claimed that in one... more
Views: 1016Uzbekistan Continues Forced Sterilization
Region: UzbekistanBy News Briefing Central Asia As a maternal and child health programme enters its second phase in Uzbekistan, questions are being asked about its effectiveness since the government continues to sanction forcible sterilisation. The Improvement of Mother and Child Health Services programme is a joint effort by the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF, the European Union and the Uzbek health ... more
Views: 1141Uzbekistan Tightens Up on Pharmaceutical Imports
Region: UzbekistanBy News Briefing Central Asia - News Briefing Central Asia 5 Dec 12 Pharmaceuticals are in such short supply in Uzbekistan that many people resort to purchasing medicines abroad for themselves or relatives. However, they fall foul of customs searches intended to stop unlicensed drugs coming in for commercial sale. An epile... more
Views: 757Uzbek Jails and Political Prisoners
Region: UzbekistanBy News Briefing Central Asia - News Briefing Central Asia A leading Central Asian human rights defender says the international community is not doing enough to pressure Uzbekistan to free political prisoners. Nadezhda Ataeva, head of leader of the Human Rights Association in Central Asia, spoke to NBCentralAsia ahead ... more
Views: 858Uzbek Cotton Farms Rely on Human Labor
Region: UzbekistanBy News Briefing Central Asia As the harvest gets under way in Uzbekistan’s massive cotton industry, experts say the heavy reliance on human labour reflects a dire shortage of farm machinery. In early September, the authorities mobilised public-sector workers, students and lecturers and sent them out to gather cotton. Observers in Jizak and Khorezm provinces, in the centre and northwest of Uzbek... more
Views: 1086Uzbek Farmers Forced to Create Jobs
Region: UzbekistanBy News Briefing Central Asia Officials in Uzbekistan say the unemployment rate has fallen below five per cent, a figure disputed by other sources. In a report issued at the end of August, the State Statistics and Employment Committee said 4.8 per cent of the able-bodied population were unemployed, and over half a million new jobs were created in January-June, seven out of ten of them in rural ar... more
Views: 1011US Administration Urged to Press Tashkent on Political Prisoner Issues
Region: Uzbekistan
By News Briefing Central Asia - News Briefing Central Asia The top United States diplomat dealing with Central Asia was quizzed about political prisoners in Uzbekistan when he met local journalists during a visit to Tashkent on August 17. Reporters asked Robert Blake, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, about whether he had rais... more
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