Germany Cautiously Optimistic on Uzbekistan

The EU’s foreign ministers have formally decided to allow sanctions on Uzbekistan stand. The sanctions will again be renewed in May.

As mentioned last week, the foreign ministers were not convinced that the Uzbek government is making progress on human rights issues. Germany’s foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and the EU’s external relations commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, both expressed optimism about the Uzbek government’s willingness to take positive steps.

Steinmeier said the possible Uzbek concessions would involve granting the International Committee of the Red Cross access to prisons; holding a further round of talks with EU experts on the events that took place in Andijon in May 2005, where hundreds of protesters died after clashes with government troops; and launching a human rights dialogue allowing the EU to raise individual cases.
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Ferrero-Waldner was also keen to emphasize a hopeful message today.

“Although we remain very worried, of course, by the human rights situation in the country, the Uzbeks have shown new signs of movement in the right direction.”

The use of the word “concession” is interesting and quite telling. That the Uzbek government is offering to concede implies an unwillingness to improve its human rights record. And that certain EU officials are also using this language implies to me a lack of seriousness about human rights in Uzbekistan. The whole issue is a mere formality; a nice facade must be thrown up over the relationship before business can commence.

Perhaps worse is that the three concessions mentioned above are considered sufficient signs of Uzbekistan’s commitment to changing its tune. Commissions and dialogues and expert missions are all well and good, but they are fairly meaningless when the government is rounding up journalists, pastors, and activists.

The EU has fairly sound reasons to pursue a closer relationship with Uzbekistan, but it should be a bit more cautious about taking the government at its word. It gave plenty of assurances to the United States that it would improve, and backed away once it realized the US really did want some reforms. Save being an uncritical partner to the Uzbek government, the EU should expect any relationship it builds with Uzbekistan to have similarly shaky foundations.

This post was written by...

Nathan Hamm – author of 2040 posts on Registan.net.

Nathan founded Registan.net in 2003. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uzbekistan 2000-2001 and received his MA in Central Asian Studies from the University of Washington in 2007. Since 2007, he has worked full-time as an analyst, consulting with clients on Central Asian affairs, specializing in how socio-cultural factors shape risks and opportunities. Follow him on Twitter or drop him a line.