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Human rights in Uzbekistan


The state of human rights in Uzbekistan has been described as "abysmal" and has faced heavy criticism for the arbitrary arrests, religious persecution, and torture employed by the government on a regional and national level.

Human Rights Watch stated that, "Uzbekistan's record of cooperation with UN human rights mechanisms is arguably the among worst in the world. For the past 12 years, it has ignored requests for access by all 11 UN human rights experts, and has rejected virtually all recommendations that international bodies have made for human rights improvements."IHF have expressed profound concern about "wide-scale violation of virtually all basic human rights."

Religious freedom is one of the country's greatest issues. Although it's a predominantly Muslim environment, only two mainstream religions - Orthodox Christianity and Judaism - are recognized and tolerated by the state.

The U.S. Department of State has designated Uzbekistan a Country of Particular Concern for the religious persecution practiced in the country, and have defined Uzbekistan as "an authoritarian state with limited civil rights." Human Rights Watch, however, says that the US government has "resisted imposing any serious policy or consequences for Uzbekistan's dismal rights record, viewing Tashkent as a key ally along the Northern Distribution Network (NDN) that it is using to withdraw supplies from the war in Afghanistan."

According to reports, the most widespread violations of human rights are torture, arbitrary arrests, and various restrictions of freedoms of religion, of speech and press, of free association and assembly. The reports maintain that the violations are most often committed against members of religious organizations, independent journalists, human right activists and political activists, including members of banned opposition parties. In 2005, Uzbekistan was included into Freedom House's "The Worst of the Worst: The World's Most Repressive Societies."


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