Short Abstract:

This roundtable brings together officials, activists and experts to critically review Uzbekistan's reforms of the last five years, paying particular attention to media, civil society, and criminal justice. Discussants will reflect on improvements as well as recommendations for further reform.

Long Abstract:

Five and a half years since Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev assumed power following the death of authoritarian leader Islam Karimov, he has taken concrete steps to improve the country’s human rights record. In August 2019, for example, in ordering the closure of the notorious Jaslyk prison – long a symbol of Uzbekistan’s torture epidemic and imprisonment of government critics – president Mirziyoyev fulfilled a demand United Nations human rights bodies first issued 17 years ago. And since September 2016, Uzbek authorities have released about 50 people imprisoned on politically motivated charges, including human rights activists, journalists, and peaceful opposition activists. Those released include Yusuf Ruzimuradov and Muhammad Bekjanov – two of the world’s longest imprisoned journalists, jailed for 19 and 18 years, respectively – and peaceful political dissidents like Samandar Kukanov, Uzbekistan’s first vice chairman of Parliament after independence. Kukanov, unlawfully imprisoned for 23 years, had been one of the world’s longest held political activists, after Nelson Mandela.

Prison authorities have also reportedly released from prison hundreds of independent Muslims – who practice Islam outside strict state controls – but this is impossible to verify. The authorities have not provided any list of people serving sentences on extremism and related charges, making it difficult to confirm the numbers of those released. These moves, combined with an improved environment for free speech and media, the removal of currency restrictions, easing of visa restrictions for visitors from many foreign countries, and a warming of ties with Uzbekistan’s Central Asian neighbors, have contributed to a sense of hope among many ordinary Uzbeks about the possibility for change not witnessed in decades. At the same time, the government remains firmly authoritarian. Thousands of people, mainly peaceful religious believers, remain in prison on false charges and Uzbekistan’s security services retain vast powers to harass and detain perceived critics.

While the releases raised hopes that the government is serious about political reform, the authorities have not provided former political prisoners with avenues for legal redress, including overturning unjust convictions, or access to adequate medical treatment even though many remain in terrible health due to their decades-long ordeals. Uzbekistan has not given any indication that it will pursue a meaningful strategy of truth and reconciliation that would lead to a critical reflection on the Karimov era. Without a meaningful national dialogue about past abuses, it is hard to see Uzbekistan making the leap forward toward greater democracy.

This panel aims to provide a space to take stock of reforms in Uzbekistan over the last few years—in the civil society sector, prison system and media—and to hear the untold stories of current rights activists who will discuss what they experienced, and provide officials and activists and outside experts the chance to discuss and reflect on the significance or possibility of providing transitional justice and redress for past abuses as a part of Uzbekistan’s significant reform agenda going forward.