ICG calls for pressure on Tashkent

The International Crisis Group (ICG), a multinational advocacy NGO, has called on donors to take a much tougher, critical approach with the Uzbek government on reform efforts being undertaken in the country. "There is a very strong need for political, economic and judicial reform," ICG Vice President, Alain Delatroz, told IRIN from the Belgian capital, Brussels. While officially, Tashkent claims to be engaged in reforms, this was not the case, he said, adding: "Uzbekistan is being ruled with very little change politically from the Soviet era." His comments coincide with a statement issued by the group on Wednesday calling on Washington, the European Union (EU), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and other international donors, to step up demands for greater reform. According to an ICG report entitled "Uzbekistan’s Reform Programme: Illusion or Reality?" issued the same day, Central Asia’s most populous nation remains a dictatorship, elections are entirely under executive control, there is no legal opposition and thousands of people remain in prison for religious or political beliefs. "It is inadmissible that a country like this, after 12 years of independence, is still keeping around 7,000 political prisoners in jail," Delatroz explained. Torture and brutality are commonplace in police custody and in prisons, the report said, while the economy remains dominated by the state and a small elite manages key export sectors, ensuring personal enrichment in the process. Meanwhile, the private sector was being strangled by uncooperative bureaucracy and corruption, while poverty and disillusion - particularly among young people - were feeding discontent and extremism, the report added. However, according to ICG Asia Programme Director, Robert Templer, Western embassies and governments were becoming increasingly critical of the 'positive engagement' approach to Uzbekistan. "With the US need for a strategic partner fading, there is little to lose in taking a much tougher stance with President Karimov's government," he maintained. Since the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, Uzbekistan has enjoyed a special relationship with Washington. A US base was established to support the war in Afghanistan and a far-reaching Agreement on Strategic Partnership was signed in March 2002. That agreement, which was not published after it was signed and is still not available on US government websites, commits Uzbekistan to a multi-party system, free and fair elections, media freedom and human rights. No such reforms have been implemented and in January 2002 a rigged referendum extended President Islam Karimov's term by two years. International financial institutions also offered major incentives to Tashkent, but the government failed to achieve basic commitments made in an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on agricultural, banking, currency and other economic reforms. ICG Central Asia Project Director David Lewis said: "The political system in Uzbekistan is dominated by vested interests at all levels that have a considerable investment in retaining the status quo. Western officials have also tended to take President Karimov’s pro-reform rhetoric at face value. But Uzbekistan's future is bleak, and the risk of instability rises, unless serious political and economic reforms are implemented." Asked what needed to be done, Delatroz said very few international, high-level delegations, that visited Tashkent lately, had raised the issue of reform directly with the President. "I think the President needs to be pushed now," he claimed, adding any aid package provided to the country must also include clear bench marks for reform. The International Crisis Group (ICG) is an independent, non-profit, multinational organisation, with over 80 staff members on five continents, working through field-based analysis and high-level advocacy to prevent and resolve deadly conflict. A complete copy of the ICG report