Tag Archives: rights and freedoms

Mosque staff in Kazakhstan file lawsuit

SEPT. 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Staff at the Nur-Gasyr mosque in Aktobe, the largest in the city, filed a lawsuit against their employer to claim salaries which they say have not been paid. The mosque has not commented. The unpaid salaries is a reflection of the tight economic conditions in Kazakhstan and how problems are filtering through Kazakh society. The Nur-Gasyr mosque is one of 13 Islamic worship buildings in Aktobe. It was built in 2008 and cost $16.6m to build.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)

Uzbekistan bans forced labour

SEPT. 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan has ratified the International Labour Organisation’s convention on the ban on forced and child labour, the ministry of labour said in a statement. Every year, during the cotton harvest, human rights organisations denounce dozens of cases of child and forced labour. Cotton is an important commodity for Uzbekistan’s economy.

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(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)

World Bank finances Uzbek textile factory

SEPT. 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The International Labor Rights Forum published a report corroborating claims that the World Bank could be inadvertently financing a textile factory involved in forced labour practices. The report, which follows a petition in July sent by human rights activists directly to the World Bank, targets specifically an Uzbek-Indonesian joint venture, Indorama Kokand Textile. The World Bank had previously denied the allegations, saying it only deals with forced labour-free companies.

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(News report from Issue No. 296, published on Sept. 16 2016)

Georgian president blocks gay rights referendum

AUG. 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili blocked a petition calling for a referendum that sought to enshrine an outright ban on gay marriages in Georgia’s Constitution. Supporters of the petition had argued for a referendum on the issue to be held at the same time as a parliamentary election in October.

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(News report from Issue No. 292, published on Aug. 12 2016)

World Bank denies Uzbek forced-labour accusations

JULY 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The World Bank denied allegations that it was fuelling forced labour in Uzbekistan after local human rights campaigners complained about the indirect consequences of a loan from the World Bank’s financial arm to an Uzbek-Indonesian textile joint venture.

The complaint targets a $40m loan approved in December 2015 by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to Indorama Kokand Textile (IKT), the Uzbek subsidiary of Indorama TBK, a Jakarta-based textile company.

The IFC said that it gave the loan to IKT because it has verified the company’s labour practices.

“[IKT] can trace its cotton supply to ensure it sources only from areas covered by third-party monitoring against child and forced labor,” IFC spokeswoman Elizabeth Price told Reuters.

IKT also refuted the allegations.

“Indorama Corporation has a strict policy of zero tolerance on use of any form of forced labor,” IKT spokesman Prakash Kejriwal said.

The claimants are three local human rights campaigners and one Uzbek alleged victim of forced labour. They said that this loan would reinforce the system of forced labour in the country.

“The IFC loan to IKT and support to commercial banks in Uzbekistan risks perpetuating the forced labor system,” the claimants said in their statement filed with the IFC.

The loan was issued to finance the expansion of the company’s textile plant in Kokand, east Uzbekistan.

The claim highlights the reputational problems of doing business in Uzbekistan for foreign countries. It will likely direct international attention to the issue of forced labour in the country’s cotton picking industry. Uzpahtasanoateksport, the state owned company responsible for the collection and the sale of cotton, is IKT’s sole supplier.

Since 2009, the United States has banned imports of Uzbek cotton and in 2013 it blocked a shipment of IKT cotton at the port of Los Angeles.

Indorama TBK owns 89.26% of IKT, while Uzbekistan’s Central Bank owns the rest.

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(News report from Issue No. 289, published on July 15 2016)

Oilmen strike in western Kazakhstan

JULY 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Around 700 oil workers staged a two-hour strike, protesting against alleged pay cuts and job losses at the Burgylau oil service company in Zhanaozen, western Kazakhstan, the US-funded RFE/RL reported. Burgylau is linked to businessman Yakov Tskhai, who owns a majority stake in its parent company KazPet- roDrilling. In 2011, around 15 people died in Zhanaozen during clashes between striking oilmen and police.

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(News report from Issue No. 291, published on Aug. 1 2016)

Kyrgyz MPs pass media bill

BISHKEK, JUNE 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan’s parliament passed the first reading of a law that will restrict foreign funding of TV channels, a move its proponents have said is vital to protect media integrity but its detractors have said limits freedom.

The bill, which will have to be passed two more times, cuts the share of foreign financing for mass media outlets down to 35% and prohibits any foreign parties from establishing TV channels in Kyrgyzstan.

Media reported that the bill had been passed by 79 votes to 30.

Medet Tiulegenov, a political studies expert, said that the bill may have been pushed through by MPs to feed off popular mistrust of foreigners and boost their profile.

“By promoting a law against foreign investments in local media, MPs are trying to listen to that part of the population, which blames foreigners for problems here,” he said. “There are many MPs, who are not well-known among the population yet, but would like to get attention and popularity.”

This is the second major stand-off in Kyrgyzstan this year between groups of conservative, nationalist MPs and rights campaigners. Earlier this year, at the final reading, parliament rejected a bill that would have banned NGOs from directly receiving foreign funding.

Critics of the bill have said that its main aim was to close down the local office of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Begaim Usenova, a Kyrgyz media expert, said that this law is another attempt to restrict people’s freedom. “It is incorrect to say that foreign funded media sources are a threat to the state, the bill’s initiators could not prove that there has ever been such a case,” she said.

And the bill appears to have already been watered down after protests by a few dozen people in front of parliament. Restrictions on foreign funding of media were reduced to just TV, rather than including print and radio too.

Still, the bill does carry a degree of popular support in Kyrgyzstan.

Yulia, 33, a Bishkek resident, said: “This is a good law, as every foreigner has its own interests, whereas we have to care about our security.”

And Dauren, 30, another Bishkek resident, said: “I am happy that there are more Kyrgyz patriots in our parliament than western lobbyists.”

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(News report from Issue No. 286, published on June 24 2016)

Georgian anti-LGBT activists want referendum on blocking gay marriages

TBILISI, JUNE 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s Central Election Committee (CEC) gave preliminary approval for a referendum on enshrining the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman in the Georgian Constitution, setting up a potentially acrimonious clash between liberals and conservatives.

If activists manage to collect the 200,000 signatures needed to trigger a referendum it is likely that the vote would be held on the same day as a parliamentary election — Oct. 8.

It’ll be closely watched by the European Union. Georgia wants to join the European Union and has been lobbying for visa-free access but, among other issues, Brussels has said that Georgia’s attitude towards gay rights undermines its application.

Georgia’s society is broadly conservative and against gay rights, although it does have a vocal LGBT community. In 2013, a crowd attacked a gay rights march in Tbilisi injuring several people. A Georgian Orthodox priest was photographed wielding a stool as a weapon.

The proposed referendum was put forward by several MPs, including Sandro Bregadze, who had been a deputy minister within the Georgian Dream coalition and is known for his staunchly homophobic comments.

He told a press conference after the CEC approval that the referendum question he wants to put forward is: “Do you agree or not the definition of marriage is a union between a man and a woman for the purpose of starting a family?”

Lika Jalagania, lawyer at Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center, later told The Conway Bulletin that there was a strong chance that the group lobbying for the referendum would be able to collect the 200,000 signatures.

“I really think that they will reach this number, bearing in mind the current homophobic attitudes of Georgian society”, she said.

On June 13, outside the US embassy in Tbilisi a group of gay rights campaigners were holding a vigil in support of the victims of a homophobic attack on a nightclub in Orlando two days earlier. At least 49 people died in the attack, one of the worst mass shootings in the US.

A 57-year-old activist who declined to be named said that mainstream Georgians’ attitude towards the LGBT community would not change.

“The Church rules our country and that is not good for us,” she said.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Violence towards Kazakh TV star sparks debate on violence against women

ALMATY, JUNE 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Bayan Yessentayeva, a high profile TV celebrity and a role- model for thousands of Kazakh women, was beaten unconscious by her husband during a row at a petrol station, sparking a rare public debate about domestic violence in Kazakhstan.

Eyewitnesses said that Bakhytbek Yessentayev was drunk when he stabbed, punched and kicked Ms Yessentayeva, 42. Mr Yessentayev has a reputation for violence. Earlier this year, a video was posted on Youtube which allegedly showed him punch- ing staff at a casino after he lost thousands of dollars in one evening.

A spokesman for the Talgar hospital near Almaty said that Ms Yessentayeva was unconscious but in a stable condition.

“She’s a very strong woman to be able to survive, especially with such injuries. She has a strong spirit,” said Erbol Sarsenbayev, deputy director of the hospital.

For Kazakhs the beating has generated a rare, and uncomfortable, debate about domestic abuse.

According to the United Nations, 500 women are killed each year by their husbands or boyfriends in Kazakhstan, one of the highest rates per capita in the world.

Campaigners have said that in Kazakhstan a mix of heavy drinking, a distrust of the authorities and Islamic practices which can subjugate women in the home combine to create conditions which heighten scenarios where domestic abuse can occur.

The beating of Ms Yessentayeva, though, triggered a rare protest against domestic violence with women posting photos of their faces on Twitter with painted-on bruises.

Zulfiya Baisakova, chairperson of the activist group Union of Crisis Centers in Kazakhstan, said they receive between 15,000 to 20,000 reports of domestic violence each year.

“Official statistics show that everything is improving but unofficially statistics show an increase in the number of incidences,” she said.

And women in Kazakhstan are frustrated by the lack of attention that domestic abuse receives.

Diana Burkit, a student from south Kazakhstan, told the Conway Bulletin that although she was not a victim of abuse her relatives had been.

“I resent that only after Yessentayeva was abused has anybody paid attention to this. How about what goes on in Shymkent?” she said.

She described domestic violence in southern Kazakhstan as rampant.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Turkmenistan fails to pay salaries

JUNE 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Employees of Turkmenistan’s state-owned oil and gas companies said they have not received salaries for months, the opposition Alternative News Turkmenistan website reported. Previous reports had said that state employees had not received salaries and had been forced to accept state bonds instead.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)