Mr. Moderator, the freedom of citizens to join with
others in pursuing their legal goals is a basic right
and a cornerstone of civil society. Associations of
individuals can act as indispensable voices of dissent
and diversity – presuming they are allowed to assemble
without fear of reprisal.
In Turkmenistan, neither freedom of association nor
freedom of assembly is observed; the regime of
Saparmurat Niyazov continues to ignore its commitment to
observe these basic rights. But in a glimmer of hope, in
Uzbekistan, the Independent Human Rights Organization
managed to gain registration in March, after years of
unsuccessful attempts. We hope this will mark the
beginning of a broader trend towards unrestricted
freedom of association, which will lead eventually to
the return of opposition parties to Uzbekistan’s
political arena. Until then, there are other independent
human rights groups which are seeking registration, and
we call on Tashkent to process these applications
expeditiously. On a happier note, Tajikistan's response
to lobbying from local NGOs persuaded the government to
reduce its NGO registration fees and registered NGOs in
Tajikistan have increased over 35% this year. While
Tajikistan is the only country in Central Asia to permit
an openly Islamic political party to participate in
government, there are still other political parties,
such as the Unity Party, that are experiencing
difficulties registering and complying with Tajikistan's
unwieldy and unreformed political party legislation.
The events in Kyrgyzstan, where police shot and
killed six demonstrators in March, also underscore the
need for state and society to come to terms with
self-expression through organized mass meetings. If
people cannot demonstrate peacefully, there is a serious
danger that sooner or later they will demonstrate
anyway, but with a violent outcome. While we welcome the
resignation of Kyrgyz Prime Minister Bakiyev and others
following the the release of the report of the State
Commission investigating the causes of the tragic events
in March, and some progress regarding the ODIHR
recommendations to restore confidence, we hope that
additional recommendations made by ODIHR including
increasing transparency, enacting necessary political
reforms, will be implemented under the President’s
leadership.
We are disappointed that the Government of Kazakhstan
used a variety of tactics in July to prevent people from
participating in a three-day seminar organized by the
Washington-based National Democratic Institute in
Almaty. Would-be participants found themselves
inexplicably denied public transport or, in some cases,
threatened by the police not to go. Such actions not
only violate Kazakhstan’s commitments with respect to
freedom of association, they erode civil society itself.
According to NGO sources, some 1,200 organizations
await registration in Azerbaijan. The registration of
about 1,400 NGOs in Azerbaijan, while testimony to the
strength of civil society, is no excuse not to register
other groups. Also of concern in Azerbaijan is the
shooting in June of demonstrators in the village of
Nardaran. Official claims that the demonstrators had
firearms have not been confirmed, and the history of
refusals by the authorities to sanction demonstrations
in Azerbaijan raises general concern about what happened
in that village.
In Belarus, the government has repeatedly restricted
the right of NGOs to assemble and demonstrate. On April
19, riot police arrested approximately 100 individuals
participating in a demonstration organized by Belarusian
NGOs Zubr and Charter 97 against living conditions in
Belarus. Reports indicated 33 demonstrators were
sentenced to between 3 and 15 days' detention and
another 10 people were fined 200,000 to 1,700,000
rubles. These actions are inconsistent with Belarus’
OSCE commitment to freedom of assembly.
With the recent death of Alexander Ginzburg, one of
the founders of the human rights movement in the Soviet
Union, the world lost a genuine hero who taught us all
what it means to confront a powerful state in the name
of an ideal and insist that it implement its commitments
– regardless of personal consequences.
One would like to think that we have learned a great
deal since Mr. Ginzburg was imprisoned in the GULAG. But
in one of the more brutal incidents in recent memory, on
July 10 a group of thugs attacked the Liberty Institute,
Georgia’s leading human rights organization,
indiscriminately beating everyone they could find. The
Liberty Institute has been in the vanguard of defending
those persecuted in Georgia, especially religious and
national minorities; an attack on the Liberty Institute
is an attack on Georgian civil society and on the
country’s prospects for democratization. It is shocking,
therefore, that a district court in Tbilisi subsequently
released the only man detained for involvement in that
assault, despite his perversely proud confession. We
call on the Government of Georgia to prosecute with
fully the perpetrators of that cowardly
attack.
