Dushanbe, Tajikistan, November 30, 2012 – The U.S. Embassy is concerned with the apparent decision by the Communications Service of the Republic of Tajikistan to block access to Facebook, Radio Ozodi, and other Internet news sites.

The United States believes that the right of individuals to express their views freely is universal, whether exercised in a public square or on the Internet.

We urge the Government of Tajikistan to respect individual rights to freedom of expression and lift its restriction on Facebook, Radio Ozodi, and other blocked news sites.

http://dushanbe.usembassy.gov/

DUSHANBE — The website of RFE/RL’s Tajik Service appears to be blocked on the Internet in Tajikistan.

Asomuddin Atoev, the chairman of Tajikistan’s Association of Internet Service Providers, told RFE/RL on November 30 that several leading service providers received SMS messages from Tajikistan’s state-run Communications Service requesting the blockage.

Communications Service chief Beg Zuhurov declined to comment on the matter to RFE/RL, saying he was not aware of the situation.

On November 26, Tajikistan’s Internet service providers blocked access to Facebook after a similar request by the Communications Service.

Zuhurov initially said then that access to Facebook was disrupted due to «technical problems,» but later stated that Facebook was being blocked because of public complaints.

http://www.rferl.org/content/rferl-tajik-site-appears-to-be-blocked/24785631.html

ALMATY, Kazakhstan — Police in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, have confiscated copies of a newspaper that published material from a suspended periodical.

The «Azat» (Free) weekly was removed from several newsstands on November 30.

The chief editor of the opposition «Golos respubliki» (Voice of the Republic) weekly, Tatyana Trubacheva, told RFE/RL that «Azat» placed her newspaper’s materials in its November 30 issue.

A court ordered publication of «Golos respubliki» to be suspended last week following a request by prosecutors to designate two opposition groups and several opposition media outlets as extremist.

Earlier this week, police confiscated copies of another suspended weekly, «Vzglyad» (Viewpoint), in Almaty.

It had published its November 28 issue as a brochure with the altered title «NeVzglyad» (Not-A-Viewpoint) in an unsuccessful attempt to get around the court’s order.

http://www.rferl.org/content/kazakh-weekly-seized-after-publish-material-from-suspended-newspaper/24

Brussels, – Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the Commission, travels to Central Asia this week. She will start the visit in Kyrgyzstan, where she will chair the EU-Central Asia Ministerial meeting in Bishkek on Tuesday, 27 November, before continuing to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan over the following three days.

Speaking ahead of her trip, Catherine Ashton said: «The EU is playing an increasingly important role in Central Asia, through its presence on the ground and through engagement with its partners in the region. The EU-Central Asia Ministerial meeting will allow us to discuss key issues of mutual interest including security and regional cooperation, energy, environment and water as well as other priority areas of the EU-Central Asia Strategy such as education, rule of law, human rights and initiatives on civil society. By supporting reform and transformation we hope to encourage trade and investment. Five years after the adoption of the EU’s Central Asia Strategy, the meeting should also allow us to assess and to deepen our cooperation.»

The EU-Central Asia Ministerial meeting on 27 November is the first to be held in the Kyrgyz Republic. It will be attended by the Foreign Ministers or Deputy Foreign Ministers of all five countries of the region (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan). It is the ninth Ministerial since the Central Asia Strategy was adopted by the European Council in 2007, and follows the June 2012 Foreign Affairs Council Conclusions on Central Asia and the Progress Report on implementation of the Strategy.

In Bishkek on Tuesday the High Representative will also meet bilaterally with President Almazbek Atambaev and Foreign Minister Erlan Abdyldaev.

In Tashkent on Wednesday, 28 November, the High Representative will meet with President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov and Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov.

In Dushanbe on Thursday, 29 November, the High Representative will meet President of Tajikistan Emomalii Rahmon and Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi.

She will conclude the visit in Astana where she will meet Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbaev and Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov. In Astana she will also deliver a speech on relations between the EU and Central Asia.

Throughout the trip HRVP Ashton will also meet representatives of civil society.

On 27 November, Reporters Without Borders will launch a website called WeFightCensorship (WeFC) on which it will post content that has been censored or banned or has given rise to reprisals against its creator. This original website’s aim is to make censorship obsolete. It is an unprecedented initiative that will enable Reporters Without Borders to complement all of its other activities in defence of freedom of information, which include advocacy, lobbying and assistance.

Content submitted by journalists or netizens who have been the victims of censorship – articles, videos, sound files, photos and so on ¬– will be considered for publication on the WeFightCensorship site. The content selected by the WeFC editorial committee will be accompanied by a description of the context and creator. It may also be accompanied by copies of documents relating to the proceedings under which it was banned or other documents that might help the public to understand its importance. There will be French and English-language versions of the site. Documents from all over the world will be published in their original language (including Chinese, Persian and Vietnamese) and in translation. The site is designed to be easily duplicated and mirror versions will be created in order to thwart attempts to filter or block it. Internet users will be asked to circulate the censored content in order to give it as much visibility as possible.

“Reporters Without Borders is providing a deterrent designed to encourage governments and others to respect freedom of information, the freedom that allows us to verify that all the other freedoms are being respected,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. “This website aims to exploit the so-called ‘Streisand effect,’ under which the more you try to censor content online, the more the Internet community tends to circulate it. We want to show that jailing an article’s author, seizing copies of a newspaper or blocking access to a website with a certain video can prove very counter-productive and can result in the content going around the world.”

By accessing a secured “digital safe,” Internet users will be able to submit content for publication anonymously. The website will also offer a “digital survival kit” with information about Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), encryption software such as TrueCrypt, online anonymization techniques such as Tor and other tools that news providers can use to protect their sources and, in authoritarian countries, their own safety.

Private access to a beta version of the site has already been available since 13 November to those that register. To support the launch, the Publicis Bruxelles advertising agency devised a campaign ad free of charge that shows several heads of State, including Vladimir Putin, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Bashar al-Assad in their birthday suits with the legend “Totalitarian regimes will no longer be able to hide anything from us.” It will appear in the print media and online.

Reporters Without Borders is an NGO with consultative status at the United Nations, UNESCO and the International Organization of the Francophonie. It has its international secretariat in Paris, 10 international bureaux (in Berlin, Brussels, Geneva, Madrid, New York, Rome, Stockholm, Tunis, Vienna and Washington) and more than 150 correspondents across all five continents.

The WeFC project is supported by the European Union’s European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) and the Paris City Hall.

On 27 November, Reporters Without Borders will launch a website called WeFightCensorship (WeFC) on which it will post content that has been censored or banned or has given rise to reprisals against its creator. This original website’s aim is to make censorship obsolete. It is an unprecedented initiative that will enable Reporters Without Borders to complement all of its other activities in defence of freedom of information, which include advocacy, lobbying and assistance.

Content submitted by journalists or netizens who have been the victims of censorship – articles, videos, sound files, photos and so on ­– will be considered for publication on the WeFightCensorship site. The content selected by the WeFC editorial committee will be accompanied by a description of the context and creator. It may also be accompanied by copies of documents relating to the proceedings under which it was banned or other documents that might help the public to understand its importance. There will be French and English-language versions of the site. Documents from all over the world will be published in their original language (including Chinese, Persian and Vietnamese) and in translation. The site is designed to be easily duplicated and mirror versions will be created in order to thwart attempts to filter or block it. Internet users will be asked to circulate the censored content in order to give it as much visibility as possible.

“Reporters Without Borders is providing a deterrent designed to encourage governments and others to respect freedom of information, the freedom that allows us to verify that all the other freedoms are being respected,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. “This website aims to exploit the so-called ‘Streisand effect,’ under which the more you try to censor content online, the more the Internet community tends to circulate it. We want to show that jailing an article’s author, seizing copies of a newspaper or blocking access to a website with a certain video can prove very counter-productive and can result in the content going around the world.”

By accessing a secured “digital safe,” Internet users will be able to submit content for publication anonymously. The website will also offer a “digital survival kit” with information about Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), encryption software such as TrueCrypt, online anonymization techniques such as Tor and other tools that news providers can use to protect their sources and, in authoritarian countries, their own safety.

Private access to a beta version of the site has already been available since 13 November to those that register. To support the launch, the Publicis Bruxelles advertising agency devised a campaign ad free of charge that shows several heads of State, including Vladimir Putin, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Bashar al-Assad in their birthday suits with the legend “Totalitarian regimes will no longer be able to hide anything from us.” It will appear in the print media and online.

Reporters Without Borders is an NGO with consultative status at the United Nations, UNESCO and the International Organization of the Francophonie. It has its international secretariat in Paris, 10 international bureaux (in Berlin, Brussels, Geneva, Madrid, New York, Rome, Stockholm, Tunis, Vienna and Washington) and more than 150 correspondents across all five continents.

The WeFC project is supported by the European Union’s European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) and the Paris City Hall.

europe@rsf.org

Press Release

Catherine Ashton travels to Central Asia

Brussels, – Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the Commission, travels to Central Asia this week. She will start the visit in Kyrgyzstan, where she will chair the EU-Central Asia Ministerial meeting in Bishkek on Tuesday, 27 November, before continuing to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan over the following three days.

Speaking ahead of her trip, Catherine Ashton said: «The EU is playing an increasingly important role in Central Asia, through its presence on the ground and through engagement with its partners in the region. The EU-Central Asia Ministerial meeting will allow us to discuss key issues of mutual interest including security and regional cooperation, energy, environment and water as well as other priority areas of the EU-Central Asia Strategy such as education, rule of law, human rights and initiatives on civil society. By supporting reform and transformation we hope to encourage trade and investment. Five years after the adoption of the EU’s Central Asia Strategy, the meeting should also allow us to assess and to deepen our cooperation.»

The EU-Central Asia Ministerial meeting on 27 November is the first to be held in the Kyrgyz Republic. It will be attended by the Foreign Ministers or Deputy Foreign Ministers of all five countries of the region (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan). It is the ninth Ministerial since the Central Asia Strategy was adopted by the European Council in 2007, and follows the June 2012 Foreign Affairs Council Conclusions on Central Asia and the Progress Report on implementation of the Strategy.

In Bishkek on Tuesday the High Representative will also meet bilaterally with President Almazbek Atambaev and Foreign Minister Erlan Abdyldaev.

In Tashkent on Wednesday, 28 November, the High Representative will meet with President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov and Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov.

In Dushanbe on Thursday, 29 November, the High Representative will meet President of Tajikistan Emomalii Rahmon and Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi.

She will conclude the visit in Astana where she will meet Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbaev and Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov. In Astana she will also deliver a speech on relations between the EU and Central Asia.

Throughout the trip HRVP Ashton will also meet representatives of civil society.

Background info

The EU and Central Asia: http://eeas.europa.eu/central_asia/index_en.htm

Contacts

Maja Kocijancic +32 498 984 425 / +32 2 298 65 70 — Maja.Kocijancic@ec.europa.eu

Eamonn Prendergast +32 2 299 88 51 / +32 460 75 32 93 — Eamonn.Prendergast@ec.europa.eu

http://eeas.europa.eu/central_asia/index_en.htm

DUSHANBE — A number of Internet providers in Tajikistan have blocked access to the Facebook social network.

The chairman of Tajikistan’s Association of Internet Providers, Asomuddin Atoev, told RFE/RL on November 26 that access to the website was stopped following a request by the country’s Communications Service.

The service’s spokesman, Beg Zuhurov, said Facebook was blocked for what he called «technical reasons,» but he did not give further details.

Atoev said that despite the full or partial block on Facebook there were many ways to connect to the social network.

Atoev said that the action by the Tajik authorities was illegal and hurt Tajikistan’s image internationally.

Earlier in March, Tajik authorities blocked Facebook and several online news sites, but later unblocked them.

http://www.rferl.org/content/tajikistan-blocks-facebook-again/24781425.html

ALMATY, Kazakhstan — The Kazakh authorities have suspended the activities of an unregistered opposition party and an opposition newspaper.

The deputy chairman of the Algha (Forward) party, Mikhail Sizov, told RFE/RL on November 26 that he had received the decision from an Almaty court on November 24.

The party’s activities are reportedly suspended indefinitely while investigations are under way.

The deputy chief editor of the opposition «Vzglyad» (Viewpoint) newspaper, Olesya Shchelkova, told journalists on November 26 that her publication was also suspended by court order.

Last week, the Almaty prosecutor’s office asked a court to designate Algha, the People’s Front movement, and several opposition media outlets as extremist.

The move follows the conviction last month of Algha leader Vladimir Kozlov for his role in a deadly protest in the western oil town of Zhanaozen last year.

http://www.rferl.org/content/kazakhstan-opposition-party-newspaper-suspended/24781534.html

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS:

STUDY OF THE U.S. INSTITUTES (SUSI) — FOR SECONDARY EDUCATORS
Program overview:

Study of the U.S. Institutes for Secondary Educators are intensive post-graduate level academic programs with integrated study tours whose purpose is to provide foreign secondary educators the opportunity to deepen their understanding of U.S. society, culture, and institutions.
Prospective applicants are encouraged to visit website page to obtain general information about the Institutes. The address is: http://exchanges.state.gov/susi. The Study of the U.S. Institutes for Secondary Educators will take place over the course of six weeks beginning in or after June 2013. Two Institutes for Secondary Educators will be offered, one with a focus on classroom teachers and the other with a focus on administrators, teacher trainers, curriculum developers, textbook writers, and ministry of education officials, among others. Each Institute includes a four week
academic residency component and a two week integrated study tour.

STUDY OF THE U.S. INSTITUTES (SUSI) — FOR STUDENT LEADERS ON WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP
Program overview:

Study of the U.S. Institutes (SUSI) for Student Leaders are intensive academic programs whose purpose is to provide groups of undergraduate student leaders with a deeper understanding of the United States, while simultaneously enhancing their leadership skills. The Institutes will consist of a balanced series of seminar discussions, readings, group presentations, and lectures. The coursework and classroom activities will be complemented by educational travel, site visits, leadership activities, and volunteer opportunities. The Institutes will include an academic residency component of approximately four weeks and a domestic study tour of approximately one week. During the academic residency, participants will also have the opportunity to engage in educational and cultural activities outside of the classroom. The Institute will focus on two major areas: (1) Developing
participants’ leadership skills in areas such as critical thinking, communication, decision-making, and managerial abilities; and, (2) Placing these abilities in the context of the history and participation of women in U.S. politics, economics, culture, and society. The Institute will examine the historical domestic progress towards women’s equality in the United States, the current domestic successes and challenges to women in a variety of fields, and current challenges in global women’s issues. The four-week academic residency will be complemented by an educational study tour that will take participants to other locations in the United States where they will meet with local, state, private, and nonprofit organizations working in the field. The program will conclude in Washington, D.C. with a closing conference including women from the other three Institutes on Women’s Leadership. The joint conference is tentatively scheduled for July 24, 2013.

STUDY OF THE U.S. INSTITUTES (SUSI) — FOR SCHOLARS
Program overview:
Study of the U.S. Institutes for Scholars are intensive post-graduate level academic programs with integrated study tours whose purpose is to provide foreign university faculty and other scholars the opportunity to deepen their understanding of U.S. society, culture, and institutions. The ultimate goal of these Institutes is to strengthen curricula and to improve the quality of teaching about the United States in academic institutions abroad. Study of the U.S. Institutes for Scholars will take place at various colleges, universities, and institutions throughout the United States over the course of six weeks beginning in or after June 2013. Each Institute includes a four week academic residency component and a two week integrated study tour. Prospective applicants are encouraged to visit our website page to obtain general information about the Institutes. The website address is:
http://exchanges.state.gov/susi. Study of the U.S. Institutes for Scholars will be held in the following themes in U.S. Studies: American Politics and Political Thought, Contemporary American Literature, Journalism and Media, Religious Pluralism in the United States, U.S. Culture and Society, and U.S. Foreign Policy.

Questions about the application process, as well as completed applications, should be submitted NO LATER THAN 20 December, 2012 at 17:00 to:

Mahmud Naimov, U.S. Embassy Dushanbe, 109A Ismoili Somoni Avenue
Tel: +992-37-229-2312; Fax: +992-37-229-2050
NaimovMK@state.gov

Soro Marodalieva
Outreach Coordinator
Public Affairs
U.S. Embassy
109-A Ismoili Somoni Ave.
Dushanbe, 734019, Tajikistan
Tel: 229-23-58, cell: 98-580-70-32
email: MarodalievaSZ@state.gov
web: http://dushanbe.usembassy.gov/
U.S. Embassy on Facebook.com

http://dushanbe.usembassy.gov/