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Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is appalled by Kyrgyz journalist Zulpukar Sapanov’s four-year jail sentence for allegedly “inciting hatred between religious faiths” in a book about pre-Islamic beliefs in Kyrgyzstan and calls for his conviction to be overturned on appeal.
Читать далее Call for release of Kyrgyz journalist sentenced to four years in prison
The 2017 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reflects a world in which attacks on the media have become commonplace and strongmen are on the rise. We have reached the age of post-truth, propaganda, and suppression of freedoms – especially in democracies. Читать далее 2017 World Press Freedom Index – tipping point
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) wrote the following letter to Uzbekistan’s new president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, after his installation on 14 December. It asks him to end the draconian censorship in Uzbekistan, which is ranked 166th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2016 World Press Freedom Index, and to quickly carry out the reforms needed to ensure respect for the right to information and media freedom in accordance with Uzbekistan’s constitution. Читать далее RSF writes to Uzbekistan’s new president
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is stepping up cooperation with the National Association of Independent Mass Media in Tajikistan (NANSMIT) with the aim of providing journalists with more support following recent developments that do not bode well for freedom of information in Tajikistan. Читать далее RSF reinforces alliance with partner in Tajikistan
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is very disturbed to learn that at least two Crimean journalists are on a list of 6,000 alleged “terrorists and extremists” that a Russian federal agency published yesterday.
Читать далее RUSSIA. Journalists arbitrarily included in list of alleged terrorists
Press release
20.04.2016
2016 Press Freedom Index:
Another turn of the screw in the post-Soviet region
Media freedom has declined steadily in the post-Soviet states. Nearly two thirds of the region’s countries are ranked around 150th or lower in the Index and their scores keep on falling.
The fact that Russia (148th, up 4) improved its ranking slightly should not raise hopes because its score fell as a result of the persecution of critics, which has reached levels not seen for three decades. And Russia’s behaviour has legitimized the growing repression throughout the region because Moscow acts as a regional “model,” albeit a negative one as regards media freedom.
Beset by economic and security threats, the region’s authoritarian regimes seemed to know only one response – tightening the screw – although their crackdowns just fuelled more tension. In Tajikistan (150th, down 34), which fell furthest in the Index, President Emomali Rahmon used “counter-terrorism” as grounds for gagging critics and consolidating his personal power, and in so doing jeopardized the fragile national consensus.
Brandishing imaginary threats and the resulting need for stability to justify holding on to power is the favourite pastime of the eternal despots in Uzbekistan (166th), Kazakhstan (160th), Turkmenistan (178th), Azerbaijan (163rd) and Belarus (157th). The regional economic crisis, the shockwave from the Ukrainian revolution and in some cases the uncertainty surrounding an approaching succession provided further grist to their mill. Not content with having long suppressed all expression of discontent, these regimes tightened their grip on Internet users and hounded the few remaining independent journalists.
After plummeting in the 2015 Index because of the Maidan crackdown and the fighting in the east, Ukraine (107th) has jumped 22 places in the latest Index thanks to a significant decline in violence and to some long-awaited reforms. But major challenges remain, starting with the oligarchs’ grip on the media and the “information war” with Russia. There was little change in the four regional countries that continued to be ranked best: Georgia (64th), Armenia (74th), Moldova (76th) and Kyrgyzstan (85th). Aside from the disparities in the situation of each of these four countries, media polarization and the lack of media independence are major challenges that they all share.
Located on its southwestern edge, Turkey (151st) suffered the region’s second biggest fall in score because of the turmoil resulting from the Syrian conflict and the resumption of fighting with the PKK Kurdish rebels. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s growing authoritarianism and the paranoia displayed by the authorities just deepened the fault lines in an already polarized society.
REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS | REPORTERS SANS FRONTIÈRES | РЕПОРТЕРЫ БЕЗ ГРАНИЦ
Johann Bihr | Йоханн Бир
Head of Eastern Europe & Central Asia Desk | Responsable du bureau Europe de l’Est & Asie centrale | Глава отдела Восточной Европы и Средней Азии
______________________________
CS 90247 — 75083 Paris cedex 02 — France
Tel : (33) 1 44 83 84 67
Fax : (33) 1 45 23 11 51
Skype: europarsf
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In many OSCE-participating states conflict and crisis hamper and endanger an independant, accurate and objective journalism. Sometimes journalism even tends to sharpen conflicts. It´s
difficult to recognize propaganda, hate-speech and different interests of conflict-parties. In addition the personal and digital security of journalists often is threatened.
These problems will be the main focus of the journalism Seminar of taz panter foundation, Reporters Without Borders and German Federal Foreign Office. 14 journalists from OSCE-participating states, especially from Central Asia, Middle and Eastern Europe and Russia will be invited to come to Berlin 29 May to 5 June 2016 to exchange their experience, discuss these issues and more.
The participants will meet journalists, politicians, public stakeholders and experts for international election observation. They will visit the German parliament. In the Federal Foreign Office they will meet representatives of the taskforce for the German OSCE-presidency 2016. They will learn about the German media landscape and exercise some techniques of conflict sensitive journalism. Participants will learn how to upgrade their personal and digital security.
During the stay in Berlin participants are expected to finalize an article covering a topic in the context of the seminar. Ideas and research should be presented in the beginning of the workshop.
The taz panter foundation is focused on training for journalists. This foundation is closely linked to „taz.die tageszeitung“, an independent daily German newspaper (www.taz.de).
Further information
Expenses including travel costs, hotel-accommodation in bedrooms shared by 2-3 persons and meals will be paid by the German Federal Foreign Office;
pocket-money not included
Requirement for participation
*Journalistic experience for at least 2 years in print-, online-, radio- or TV-outlets or as blogger.
*Working knowledge of Russian and at least very good understanding of English language
*No former participation in workshops of taz panter foundation or Deutsche Welle
*Valid travel documents for applying a visa
Application — not later than 29 February 2016
Journalists interested send 2 documents, both in Russian and English:
*a CV including work experience and knowledge of language
*a motivation statement for participation including your idea for a story and the research
*mail addresses of two journalistic reference persons to be contacted by the taz panter foundation.
Russian version is to be sent to oertel@taz.de and serdyuk@taz.de
English version is to be sent to petra_bornhoeft@web.de
The workshop will be organized by the journalists Barbara Oertel (taz) and Petra Bornhöft (taz panter foundation)
By Bruce Pannier
Anyone familiar with the work of international rights organizations Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, or Reporters Without Borders and the like is probably also familiar with the places Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and to a lesser extent Kyrgyzstan.
The rights records, certainly of the first four, have been criticized from their early days of independence. But their situations have actually grown noticeably worse, and even Kyrgyzstan has recently been the subject of a number of appeals and reports from rights groups.
To look at what is going on and why it is happening, RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service, known locally as Azatlyk, assembled a panel to review these recent negative trends and suggest possible remedies.
And I’ll mention here that Turkmen authorities just this month forced one of Azatlyk’s journalists in Turkmenistan to cease his work for RFE/RL (read this,this, this, and this).
Azatlyk director Muhammad Tahir moderated the panel. Participating were Johann Bihr, head of the Reporters Without Borders Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk; Steve Swerdlow, Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch (and a Qishloq resident); and RFE/RL intern Bradley Jardine, a graduate student at Glasgow University who was back for his second straight appearance (his professor told us to work him hard). I, of course, simply had to say my piece as well, considering how long I’ve been writing about this topic.
The deterioration of rights in Central Asia runs across the spectrum: civil rights, media freedom, labor rights, religious freedom, respect for minorities, ability to participate in the political process, and on and on.
Let’s start with the great information highway and Central Asian governments’ efforts to control or cut off the Internet.
Bihr brought up the recent case of a Tajik commander of the elite Interior Ministry troops (OMON) who apparently defected to the Islamic State (IS) militant group and then released a threatening video. Bihr recalled that Tajik authorities initiated a «nearly two-week-long Internet blockade in Tajikistan, which targeted all major social networks including YouTube, Odnoklassniki, Vkontakte, and others.»
Bihr noted that it’s not only Tajikistan. «This trend has been on the rise across Central Asia — Internet censorship, I mean — and it has been more and more obvious, nearly all the Central Asian states have adopted laws allowing the authorities to filter Internet websites without any court decision,» Bihr said, then added, «It’s not the case yet in Kyrgyzstan, but a bill has been submitted last month to the parliament in this direction.»
Bihr singled out Kazakhstan as having one of the more «draconian» attitudes, pointing out that in 2014 a law was passed «allowing the authorities to cut off any communication network at will, without any court order.»
He said it had become «the habit in Central Asia to kill the messenger rather than tackle the problem.»
Swerdlow spoke about the «decline in the democratic credentials» in Tajikistan, saying «we’ve seen the Islamic Revival [aka Renaissance] Party for the first time in Tajikistan’s modern history not get a seat in parliament, this is a real decline in the democratic credentials of modern Tajikistan.»
Swerdlow mentioned there had been more political victims recently in Tajikistan, «for example Zayd Saidov, a businessman from Tajikistan who announced an interest in running for president and formed a new party prior to the presidential election in 2013. He was put away [in prison] for actually 26 years.» Swerdlow drew special attention to the fact this was an amazingly long prison sentence by Tajik standards.
In Tajikistan, people convicted of being leaders in banned extremist groups plotting the overthrow of the government rarely receive more than 20 years in prison. Saidov was convicted of sexual relations with a minor, polygamy, fraud, and corruption, charges that emerged shortly after he declared his intention to run for president and accusations he has vehemently denied.
Swerdlow also spoke about recent religious laws passed in Tajikistan. «We’ve seen there some of the world’s most restrictive laws on religion; for example, the parental responsibility law, which prevents minors, anyone under the age of 18, from attending a mosque, a church, a synagogue even with the accompaniment of a parent,» he said.
But Swerdlow noted that in Central Asia, Uzbekistan really started the practice of adopting legislation meant to keep the faithful in line. Among the practices now banned in Uzbekistan are «worshipping in one’s home or worshipping in a small group of people, discussing religion in an unsanctioned place, wearing a beard, wearing a hijab, carrying a Bible which is not registered.»
Jardine examined the decline of labor rights, starting with the perennial «Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, where you have forced labor, picking in the cotton fields, where they take children 15 to 17 out of schools basically for two months out of the year for very minimal pay to fulfill government quotas.» Over the years, people from many walks of life have been forced into the cotton fields of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, but in Uzbekistan’s case public attention on the use of children to pick cotton has led the authorities to resort to students and adults.
Jardine pointed out that after the oil-worker strikes in Kazakhstan in 2011 that ended with 17 people being killed by the police, authorities in that country moved to tighten controls over the labor unions and workers. «Kazakhstan has further restrictions for assembly labor unions; there are criminal sanctions against workers who continue strikes that are declared illegal by the courts» and, Jardine added, «On top of that Kazakhstan also harasses a lot of labor activists, even imprisons many of them.»
Why is all this happening in just the last several years?
Several reasons were suggested, but two seemed to carry the most weight. The first was the change in emphasis on the part of Western countries involved in the U.S.-led campaign in Afghanistan. Swerdlow said the new relationship with the Central Asian states «put more emphasis on the Northern Distribution Network,» the supply route through Central Asia to Afghanistan. «They [Western governments] notably lessened the pressure on these [Central Asian] governments and I think that really did actually enable many of them to deepen abuses,» he said.
The other reason was Russia — the Kremlin’s involvement in Ukraine — which has alarmed leaders in former Soviet republics, and President Vladimir Putin’s push for closer integration of those former Soviet republics through the Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
The panelists noted countries such as Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have been mulling the adoption of, as Swerdlow said, the «Russian-style, copy-and-paste» laws on foreign funded organizations being forced to register as «foreign agents» and also a law on dissemination of information about same-sex relations. Clearly the Kremlin will not complain about such legislation and passage, even consideration, of such odious laws pays symbolic allegiance to Russia.
Can the damage be stemmed?
Difficult to be sure and Bihr noted, «Change can only happen in the inside» and said that «there are still seeds of hope in these activists and human rights defenders and independent journalists that keep fighting in more and more adverse circumstances for the respect of their rights and the rights of their fellow citizens.»
Swerdlow said this week’s visit of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to Central Asia and the upcoming annual EU-Central Asia dialogue were examples of events that could be used to urge Central Asia’s governments to end some of these undemocratic and abusive policies. But he said these officials need to «make the call for releases of specific political prisoners, lay out the laws that are specifically discriminatory, don’t speak in abstract terms about worsening levels of freedom of expression but really be as specific as you can.»
http://www.rferl.org/content/qishloq-ovozi-central-asia-rights-roundtable/27069053.html
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) says Azerbaijan has given it one month to halt its operations in the country and that Baku provided «no explanation» for the decision.
OSCE spokesman Shiv Sharma told RFE/RL on June 5 that Azerbaijani authorities this week «informed us of their intentions of closing the office» of its project coordinator in Baku and that the 57-member security organization is «now assessing our options.»
The move comes amid heightened criticism of Azerbaijan’s record on civil society and media freedoms by Western officials and international human rights watchdogs.
Rights groups say Baku has escalated its efforts to muzzle government opponents since Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was reelected for a third term in 2013.
The Vienna-based OSCE has been a prominent voice among those critics.
In November, its media freedoms representative, Dunja Mijatovic, said that «practically all independent media representatives and media NGOs» in Azerbaijan «have been purposefully persecuted under various, often unfounded and disturbing charges.»
Azerbaijan has bristled at Western criticism of its human rights record, saying such censure lacks objectivity.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, which notified the OSCE that Baku was terminating an agreement allowing the organization to operate in the country, had not commented publicly on the situation as of June 5.
Azerbaijan’s human rights record has also faced increasing international scrutiny in the run-up to the European Games, an Olympics-style event limited to athletes from Europe that is set to open on June 12.
Status Downgrade
EU lawmakers last month called on Azerbaijan to release individuals widely seen as political prisoners ahead of the games and urged European leaders to skip the event’s opening ceremony in Baku.
The OSCE office in Baku was downgraded to the office of a «project coordinator,» reportedly at Azerbaijan’s request, in January 2014.
The downgrade of the mission came at the request of the Azerbaijani government, which cited the country’s «significant progress» since the OSCE office in Baku was opened in 1999.
Khadija Ismayilova, a journalist and contributor to RFE/RL currently jailed in Azerbaijan on a series of charges that have been internationally condemned as politically motivated, testified before U.S. lawmakers in November that the downgrade had led to a halt of «most» of the OSCE office’s projects «related to media and combating corruption.»
Among other duties, the OSCE coordinator had been tasked with «implementing OSCE principles and commitments» and «maintaining contacts» with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), local authorities, universities, and research institutions.
NGOs have been among the numerous targets of a crackdown by Azerbaijani authorities, including groups promoting free-media efforts in Azerbaijan.
In April, the Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner, Nils Muiznieks, said «human rights defenders are harassed through restrictive NGO legislation and selectively targeted with criminal prosecutions on charges that defy credibility.»
RFE/RL last month closed its Baku bureau after Azeri authorities sealed the office shut last December in connection with the government-led campaign against foreign organizations. RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service, however, continues to operate on digital and satellite platforms.
RFE/RL Editor in Chief Nenad Pejic said on May 22 that the Azerbaijani authorities had acted «illegally and arbitrarily.»
Azerbaijani ‘Masters’
Azerbaijan’s move to close the OSCE office comes just days after the contract of the organization’s project coordinator in Baku, France’s Alexis Chahtahtinsky, expired.
Novruz Mammadov, the deputy head of Aliyev’s administration and director of its Foreign Relations Department, suggested on Twitter on June 1 that Chahtahtinsky was relieved of his duties because of U.S. objections to the French diplomat’s public appearance with Aliyev.
Mammadov appeared to be referring to a July 2014 statement by Daniel Baer, the U.S. Ambassador to the OSCE, in which he criticized Chahtahtinsky for being photographed with Aliyev and Azerbaijan’s foreign minister but not «with civil society.»
«While consultation with the host government is certainly an important part of your work, you work for all of us, and you work for the principles that underlie this organization. Your masters are not the government of Azerbaijan,» Baer said, addressing Chahtahtinsky in the statement.
Baer did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
But France’s ambassador to the OSCE, Maxime Lefebvre, told RFE/RL that the decision not to renew Chahtahtinsky’s contract was not linked to politics or OSCE-Azerbaijani ties, but rather to «internal management problems.»
Lefebvre said the OSCE «would like Azerbaijan to remain committed» to the organization and «would like the mission to continue its work.»
He added that it would be regrettable if the decision to close the Baku office was confirmed, «because we think it’s important that we keep a field presence of the OSCE in Azerbaijan and that we maintain good relations between Azerbaijan as a participating state with the OSCE.»
http://www.rferl.org/content/article/27055923.html
By Farangis Najibullah
It wasn’t so long ago that Farrukh Sharifov had settled into a home in Syria with a group of fellow Islamic State (IS) group recruits, believing he was there to fight the good fight.
Now the 25-year-old is back in his native Tajikistan, helping the government prevent others from following his path to militancy.
Sharifov is among a small number of former IS fighters who’ve taken Dushanbe up on its offer to grant amnesties to Tajiks who voluntarily leave the radical militant group and who are deemed not to be a threat to society.
Those who pass the vetting process and are amnestied are spared criminal charges upon their return, but the state has put some, like Sharifov, to good use.
Eloquent and fluent in Tajik and Russian, Sharifov tells packed audiences about the horrors he witnessed during his monthlong stint in the IS stronghold of Raqqa earlier this year. He describes seeing people summarily executed without trial, women used as sex slaves, and militants putting severed heads on display as a warning to anyone who dares challenge their strict interpretation of Islam.
A Forgiving Approach
Countries around the world are considering what to do in the event that citizens of theirs who left to join IS decide to come back.
In the case of Tajikistan, some of the hundreds who went to fight in Iraq and and Syria have vowed to return home and wage war against the government in Dushanbe.
But despite the significant threat posed by IS-trained militants, Tajikistan has opted for a forgiving approach for those who had no previous affiliation with terrorist or extremist groups and who repent for joining IS.
«Young people who took part in military conflicts in Syria, Iraq, and other countries but have realized their mistake, regret their action, and voluntarily leave the conflict zone … will be allowed to return home,» the Ministry of Internal Affair announced on May 9, clarifying the conditions of the long-standing amnesty offer.
It’s up to those individuals to find their way to Turkey or other states, but once there the government will provide them assistance in getting their documents together and setting them up with transportation home.
It also offers assistance — for those who leave IS-controlled territories and reach Turkey – in obtaining passports and tickets to come home.
In order to convince prospective returnees that the offer is genuine, the ministry has set up a hotline, called the Trust Line, that fighters considering a return can call.
Six Tajiks Have Returned
Contacted by RFE/RL, an operator said the Trust Line has received «several phone calls» — including from fighters in Syria and their relatives in Tajikistan — since it was set up on May 9.
«When a Tajik fighter calls from abroad and asks for help to come home, our officers and psychologists talk to them to identify the fighter and their intentions,» the operator said.
At least six Tajiks, including a young woman, have returned from Syria in recent months.
After being questioned by authorities, five of the returnees were granted full amnesties and set free. One is to go on trial in Dushanbe after being charged with taking part in a foreign military conflict.
Officials in Dushanbe’s Somoni district court said «the details of the case will be made public in coming days.»
The Tajik government, which fought a five-year civil war with its Islamic opposition in the 1990s, is no stranger to the threats posed by home-grown militancy.
The eastern Rasht Valley, a former stronghold of the Islamic opposition, has seen a string of deadly militant attacks, including an ambush in 2010 that left 25 government troops dead.
The same month, Tajikistan suffered its first suicide bombing when a police headquarters in the northern city of Khujand was targeted.
That attack was blamed on an alleged member of the banned Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, an extremist group the government says has many supporters in Tajikistan, and parts of which have expressed allegiance to IS in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Despite potential security risks by the new breed of IS-trained militants, many Tajiks support the amnesty, with some hailing it as a second chance for «young people who have recognized their mistakes.»
«Some of the fighters have, indeed, gone to Syria and Iraq for the so-called jihad, but there are many others who went there just to make money,» says Abdulghani Mamadazimov, the head of Tajikistan’s Association of Political Scientists.
«Many were migrant laborers who were recruited in Russia and Kazakhstan,» Mamadazimov said. «They were promised money.»
There is currently no rehabilitation program in place to aid the returnees’ reintegration, but the authorities are giving assurances that they will be free to resume their work or education.
‘There Is No Religion’
Rizvon Ahmadov, a former IS fighter who has recently returned from Raqqa, told Tajik state TV that there are many Tajiks in Syria willing to leave the IS group.
Ahmadov, 22, said he went to Syria to fight for a religious cause and spent nine months there undergoing militant training.
«But there is no religion,» Ahmadov said. «When they occupy a place, they kill local men and marry or sell their wives. They rape women and sell children. They oppress people living there.»
Disillusioned and deeply traumatized by IS atrocities, Ahmadov and fellow Tajik Mavjuda Saburova managed to escape to Turkey and sought help from the Tajik Embassy.
Officials say first-hand accounts of IS horrors will help prevent young Tajiks from being swayed by extremist propaganda.
Former militant Sharifov frequently accompanies government officials and religious leaders as they meet with people across the country as part of Dushanbe’s antiextremism campaign.
Since his first public appearance at a gathering moderated by Interior Minister Ramazan Rahimzoda on May 7, Rahimov’s schedule has been packed with meetings and speeches.
Rahimov even recently gave a speech at the Dushanbe Grand Mosque during a sermon after Friday Prayers, an honor normally reserved only for chief imams.
http://www.rferl.org/content/tajikistan-islamic-state-militants-amnesty/27054985.html