SEP. 10 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a 153-page report Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Kazakhstan of breaching workers’ rights last year in the run-up to deadly riots on Dec. 16. HRW said the government and energy companies had abused workers’ right to protest. The energy companies refuted the allegations.
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(News report from Issue No. 104, published on Sep. 14 2012)
AUG. 28 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Surprising observers, a court in the southern Kazakh city of Taraz cleared human rights activist Vadim Kuramshin of extortion. Mr Kurashmin had faced 14 years in jail. He said the accusations had been politically motivated. Police arrested him in January during a crackdown against opposition activists.
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(News report from Issue No. 103, published on Aug. 31 2012)
AUG. 15 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake met Uzbek President Islam Karimov in Tashkent to discuss ongoing plans for the US military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan through Uzbekistan in 2014, media reported. Uzbekistan is a controversial partner for the US because of concerns about it human rights record.
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(News report from Issue No. 101, published on Aug. 17 2012)
JUNE 22 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijani police arrested Khilal Mamedov a prominent local journalist and human rights activists for possessing heroin, media reported. Supporters of Mr Mamedov, who edits the popular Tolishi Sado newspaper in the southern region of Talysh, said his arrest was politically motivated.
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(News report from Issue No. 094, published on June 29 2012)
JUNE 27 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Media in Kazakhstan reported that prosecutors were to charge several detained opposition activists, including Vladimir Kozlov who heads the banned Alga! party, with plotting a revolution. No official statement has yet been made. A deadly riot in the town of Zhanaozen in December triggered a crackdown by the authorities against the opposition.
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(News report from Issue No. 094, published on June 29 2012)
MAY 29 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Human rights groups urged the Uzbek government to allow the UN’s International Labour Organisation (ILO) to monitor its 2012 cotton harvest. Clothing companies have boycotted cotton from Uzbekistan because it uses child labour. The Uzbek authorities have refused the ILO access to monitor the harvest.
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(News report from Issue No. 090, published on June 1 2012)
MAY 25 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Thousands of spectators, journalists and competitors flew into Baku for the Eurovision Song Contest, one of the biggest international events Azerbaijan has hosted. Media debates have focused on the economic advances Azerbaijan has made over the past 20 years against its alleged human rights abuses.
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(News report from Issue No. 089, published on May 25 2012)
MAY 9 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – The UN’s special envoy on torture, Juan Mendez, started a week-long tour of Tajikistan. On the eve of his visit, media quoted Mr Mendez as saying that Tajikistan needed to update its laws in line with international standards. Human rights groups have criticised Tajikistan for alleged torture in police custody.
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(News report from Issue No. 087, published on May 11 2012)
APRIL 27 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a two-day official visit to Belarus, Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko pledged to work together to improve human rights, local media reported. Human rights groups have described both Turkmenistan and Belarus as repressive.
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(News report from Issue No. 086, published on May 4 2012)
MARCH 30 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – The UN’s human rights committee gave a strongly critical assessment of human rights in Turkmenistan after a month-long investigation. The assessment was unequivocal about its main concerns — a lack of any freedom of expression, ill-treatment in detention and torture.
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(News report from Issue No. 082, published on April 6 2012)