AUG. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Human rights groups have criticised former British PM Tony Blair for penning a letter in 2012 to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev giving him advice on how to refer in a speech to deadly clashes between police and anti- government demonstrators. Mr Blair has been an adviser to Mr Nazarbayev since 2011.
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(News report from Issue No. 197, published on Aug. 27 2014)
AUG. 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – People protesting against the alleged use of child labour in Uzbekistan’s cotton fields have targeted South Korea’s Daewoo International Corporation, media reported. According to demonstrators Daewoo buys 5% of Uzbekistan’s cotton. The protests are a reminder of just how sensitive the use of Uzbek cotton is in western clothing.
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(News report from Issue No. 196, published on Aug. 20 2014)
AUG. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The United Nations and various international human rights campaigners have intensified their criticism of Azerbaijan for arresting a handful of leading activists over the past month, media reported. European leaders are courting Azerbaijan for its oil and gas but its human rights records has worsened.
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(News report from Issue No. 196, published on Aug. 20 2014)
JULY 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijani police arrested Leyla Yunus, one of the government’s harshest and most prominent critics, and accused her of treason and spying. A few days later police also arrested her husband, Arif Yunus. Human rights activists and diplomats criticised the arrests.
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(News report from Issue No. 194, published on August 6 2014)
JULY 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan released on bail Tajik academic Alexander Sodiqov who officials arrested and charged with spying when working for British and Canadian universities in the south of the country. Mr Sodiqov’s arrest triggered international condemnation. As a condition of his bail, Mr Sodiqov has to remain in Dushanbe.
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(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)
JULY 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Pressure has been growing on Tajikistan to release Alexander Sodiqov, the Tajik researcher linked to the Universities of Toronto and Exeter who was arrested and charged with spying last month. Mr Sodiqov was detained in the restive region of Gorno-Badakhshan, southeast Tajikistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)
JULY 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan, or Almaty to be precise, has made it into the final round of three to host the 2022 Winter Olympics.
This in itself is an achievement. The other two finalists have long Olympic pedigree. Beijing hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 2008 and Oslo has already hosted the Winter Games in 1952. In 1994, Lillehammer, in central Norway, also hosted the Winter Olympic Games.
In the last Winter Olympic Games in Sochi earlier this year Norway won 11 gold medals and China won three. Kazakhstan, by comparison, won just one bronze medal in ice skating.
Almaty may be a rank outsider in terms of Olympic pedigree but it is still an attractive option for the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The IOC wants to break into new territories for its Winter Games. The options are slightly limited by the weather and the expensive, exclusive nature of winter sports.
Almaty ticks a good number of boxes. It is keen, can pay for the facilities and has plenty of snow.
Of course there are pitfalls too. Kazakhstan’s human rights record and commitment to democracy is patchy and many of the facilities needed to host the Winter Olympics are unbuilt. Also, with the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, the IOC may decide that having another one so soon in the former Soviet Union is just too much for everybody.
The IOC decides on its 2022 winter venue on July 31 2015. Almaty has just over a year to put together a bid that could finally bring the Olympics to Kazakhstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)
JULY 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) criticised Azerbaijan for giving two bloggers prison sentences this yea. OSCE media chief Dunja Mijatovic said: “The list of individuals imprisoned in Azerbaijan for exercising their right to free speech is growing very rapidly.”
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(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)
JULY 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Prisoners in a jail in western Kazakhstan rioted over conditions, media reported. Human rights groups regularly complain to Kazakhstan about conditions that it keeps prisoners in. An official told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that the riot had been quashed by law enforcement officers.
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(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)
JUNE 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz officials denied entry to the country to Uzbek human rights activist Vasila Inoyatova, media reported. Human rights groups have complained that Kyrgyzstan discriminates against Uzbeks. Ms Inoyatova has been a critic of the Kyrgyz authorities’ attitude towards Uzbeks.
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(News report from Issue No. 190, published on July 2 2014)