91999E1596

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1596/99

by James Nicholson (PPE-DE) to the Council

(20 September 1999)

Subject: Human rights in Uzbekistan

Concerned Christians in the European Union are continuing to draw attention to alleged abuses of human rights in Uzbekistan. They have pointed out that cases of Pastor Rashid Turibayev, Parhad Yangibayev, Iset Tanishiev and Nail Asanov who, they claim, have been jailed on false charges of drug possession.

Is the Council monitoring the human rights situation in Uzbekistan particularly in regard to the treatment of converts to Christianity and what representations has it made to the Government of Uzbekistan in relation to the above-mentioned four prisoners?

Reply

(29 November 1999)

The Council is closely monitoring the human rights situation in Uzbekistan.

The EU is regularly raising this issue with the Uzbek authorities. In a demarche in Tashkent in July 1999 and in the First Cooperation Council EU-Uzbekistan on 13 September 1999, the Union expressed concern on the freedom of religion and in particular the ill-treatment of Christians in Uzbekistan. It encouraged the Uzbek government, in the framework of the recently concluded Partnership and Cooperation Agreement and in the light of Uzbekistan's OSCE commitments, to respect the international principles of freedom and religion. The EU also expressed strong concern about imprisonment on the grounds of political or religious belief and about prison conditions in Uzbekistan.

The Council will continue to closely monitor the human rights situation in Uzbekistan in all its aspects and address the issue regularly with the Uzbek authorities.