U.S. Lawmakers Propose Sanctions on Uzbekistan

Proposed legislation also would fund democracy promotion in Central Asia

Two prominent U.S. lawmakers are reintroducing legislation in Congress to fund the promotion of democracy and human rights in Central Asia.

The lawmakers, Senator John McCain and Representative Christopher H. Smith, appeared together May 9 on a panel during the conference "One Year After Andijon: What's Next For Uzbekistan and the United States" at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a policy research center.

On May 12-13, 2005, Uzbek security forces responded to the violent takeover of government buildings in the city of Andijon by shooting indiscriminately at a crowd of largely peaceful protestors. The Uzbek government has maintained that 187 died in the violence, almost all of them security forces or violent protestors and insurrectionists. However, international estimates of the dead have ranged from 500 to 1,000, most of them peaceful, unarmed protestors including women and children.

The new legislation on Central Asia, which was first introduced in a somewhat different form in July 2005, would create a sanctions section for Uzbekistan, preventing U.S. funds from going to the Uzbek government unless the secretary of state determines the government is "making substantial and continuing progress" toward respect for human rights and the Uzbek government begins a "credible international investigation" of Andijon.

McCain, a Republican from Arizona who is considered a leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, painted a grim picture of Uzbekistan one year after the government's brutal crackdown: the repression of civil society, the Soviet-style show trials, the expulsion of international media and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and the blame for everything wrong in the country heaped on the United States and its nefarious NGO allies by a regime that controls all media.

"The world will expect us to distance the United States further from this repressive government," said McCain, noting that he would be introducing legislation in cooperation with Smith. Calling the Karimov regime "inimical" to U.S. security interests, McCain urged the Bush administration to do at least as much as the European Union did in 2005 when it imposed an arms embargo on Uzbekistan and visa sanctions on those deemed responsible for the violence.

Following McCain, Smith said it is not surprising that countries newly emerged from 70 years of communism should have difficulties creating states in which rule of law is respected. "But after 15 years of independence we should be seeing some separation of powers and a strong civil society," added Smith, a Republican congressman from New Jersey who serves as vice chairman of the House Committee on International Relations and chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights, and International Operations.

Among the Central Asian republics, "only in Kyrgyzstan do we see freer media and hope of more in the future," said Smith. "And only in Kyrgyzstan is the president's relationship with the other branches of power not yet set in a pattern of executive branch dominance." Smith also serves as co-chairman of the United States Helsinki Commission, which focuses on fostering and promoting human rights, democracy, and stability in Central and Eastern Europe.

HUMAN RIGHTS PROBLEMS PREDATE ANDIJON

Like McCain, Smith said that Uzbekistan's human rights record was terrible even before the Andijon massacre and had complicated the U.S.-Uzbek cooperation in the war against terrorism. "President Islam Karimov allows no opposition. Torture is pervasive. For years human rights groups were unregistered, and Tashkent has waged war against Muslims who wanted to practice their faith outside state-approved channels," Smith said.

Two groups do constitute a serious problem for the Uzbek government, Smith acknowledged: the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan is a terrorist group affiliated with al-Qaida, and Hizb-ut-Tahrir is virulently anti-Western and anti-Semitic, he said. "But Karimov's exclusive reliance on repression only exacerbates matters and has probably supplied cadres for radical and terrorist organizations."

Smith said it was only a matter of time before the U.S. relationship with the Karimov regime collapsed, because "Karimov only implemented the democratization commitments just enough for Tashkent and Washington to point to 'progress.'"

Smith contended the breakdown of U.S.-Uzbek relations actually predated the violence in Andijon in May 2005 to Kyrgyzstan's Tulip Revolution of February through April 2005, which alarmed the Karimov regime because it "proved that 'people power' was possible in Central Asia," Smith said.

"Karimov sees us as his greatest strategic danger," Smith said. "He has cracked down even harder and state-run media accuse us of trying to enslave Uzbekistan."

The proposed legislation would provide $118 million in assistance for human rights and democracy training and $15 million for increased Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Voice of America broadcasting.

The bill also would establish a certification mechanism for the distribution of assistance to each government in Central Asia, requiring the secretary of state to determine whether each has made "significant improvements in the protection of human rights," Smith said.

In addition, the bill would require the secretary of state to report on whether any government is "forcibly returning Uzbeks or other refugees who have fled violence and political persecution."

The United States repeatedly has expressed concern that some states have returned Uzbeks who fled the violence in Andijon and sought asylum in other countries without proper consideration of whether they qualify for protection as refugees. (See related article.)

In addition, the bill mirrors EU sanctions by establishing a visa ban and an export ban on munitions. The sanctions section would also establish an asset freeze for Uzbek officials, their family members, and their associates implicated in the Andijon massacre or involved in other gross violations of human rights.

The May 9 conference opened with a presentation by an eyewitness to the violence, Galima Bukharbayeva, who won an International Press Freedom award in 2005 for her reporting on Andijon. Bukharbayeva played a recording of the shooting made via an open mobile phone line to the British Broadcasting Coporation. A documentary film on the massacre's aftermath was followed by a panel of experts who discussed the implications and ramifications for U.S. policy in Eurasia.

Source: U.S. Department of State

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