Human Rights Groups Urge EU to Exert Pressure on Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan

Human rights experts are calling on the European Union to use its growing political clout to press for improvements in the human rights climate in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) sent an appeal to the EU on July 21, presenting a list of human rights abuses that the group would like to see corrected. Officials from the EU's Cooperation Council met with authorities from the Central Asian states in Brussels on July 22. The meeting provided a prime opportunity for the EU to influence human rights policy in those countries.

The HRW appeal says Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan "have consistently flouted" human rights provisions contained in their Partnership and Cooperation Agreements with the EU. Recent investigations have determined the Kazakhstani and Kyrgyz governments engage in a variety of rights abuses, including the repression on political opponents and the muzzling of independent media. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Among the specific steps advocated by HRW are the immediate release from prison of Galimzhan Zhakiyanov, a leader of the opposition Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan, and of Sergei Duvanov, a journalist who maintains he was jailed for writing about Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev's alleged corrupt practices. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive]. In Kyrgyzstan, HRW is calling for the release of jailed opposition leader Feliks Kulov.

"The EU needs to use the meeting to extract some concrete commitments and set some timelines to get these things done. Commitments [to human rights] must be a required part of the engagement," said Veronika Szente Goldston, a HRW representative.

In past Council meetings, the EU has used strong language to acknowledge human rights abuses, but has stopped short of establishing specific guidelines for putting an end to such violations.

"Generally, the United States has been the most engaged of the Western states when it comes to human rights, and in terms of raising human rights issues in diplomatic contexts. In certain circumstances the US has used engagement to leverage concessions on human rights. The US record hasn't been perfect, but it's a good model," said Acacia Shields at HRW. "In the case of the EU, we haven't seen the willingness to do the same."

The EU has, however, recently showed signs of maneuvering on its own. HRW officials praised the EU for establishing a specific blueprint to improvements of the human rights climate in Uzbekistan. The criteria were presented to Uzbek officials during a January meeting.

"We were pleased about the concrete language of the agreements in January and hope the same type of tangible goals are set when the EU meets with the Kyrgyz and Kazakhs," said Goldston.