EU officials plan to discuss the easing of sanctions on Uzbekistan in talks with Uzbek officials next month.
Mingarelli said that after next month’s meeting the EU “will be in a better position to assess the will of Uzbekistan to comply with requirements on democratic principles and human rights.”
I think there is already ample evidence available to answer this. But the two sides would benefit quite a bit from better relations. Uzbekistan is likely uncomfortable with putting all of its eggs in one basket, and it probably would not mind having a bit more leverage in the form of European customers in order to get more for its natural gas. And more diversity in gas suppliers is good for Europe.
As hard as it is to imagine discovering will in Tashkent to suddenly be more respectful of human rights and democratic principles, this might be evidence that they are trying to put on a good show.
Impossible as it may seem, but missions of two American non-governmental organizations in Uzbekistan won court battles last week. The matter concerns Cooperative Housing Foundation International (CHF International) and Mercy Corps. The court sided up with the defense in both cases. It is all the more surprising because a nationwide campaign against foreign non-governmental organizations is under way in the country, and Uzbek justice as such usually backs the prosecution. Verdicts of “non guilty” are practically unheard of in Uzbekistan.
The Mercy Corps verdict may be challenged by the government, but as the author of the story notes, the judiciary takes orders from the executive. Therefore, the outcomes of these cases is no accident, and they indicate that the government is either trying to pretend that courts function independently or that it is changing its attitude towards (some?) foreign NGOs.
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Nathan, This is a very interesting development. Thank you for covering it…
Laurence,
You know how sneaky Western NGOs are!
In the case of CHF, what this tells me is that only local employees are lower than the belly-dragging INGOs that employ them. Plus, noone needs employees of other Karshi enterprises getting any ideas (CHF may have been a salt mine on a summer day, but was it the worst employer in town?) Also, there’s an announcement today that CHF is being inspected by MinJust.
With Mercy Corps, given that there were large tax penalties being considered, one wonders whether MC struck a deal to leave quietly.
So the verdict’s not in. Perhaps the Gov. hasn’t let down its vigilance of the fifth column in exchange for a few coins flung from the carriage of neo-imperialist Europe. One can only hope.
Dolkun, Is Mercy Corps leaving? I didn’t see that in the story…
No, there was no information that MC’s leaving, but at least one of their ex-pats has gotten their walking papers.
It just seems more logical than the court getting the message, but not the tax inspector, unless the gov wants to demonstrate that sometimes you can win a case. But that’s a bit too subtle even for the East.
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