- WSJ.com Central Asia Resists Pressure To Improve Human Rights November 11, 2002
Central Asia Resists Pressure To Improve Human Rights By STEVE LEVINE Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Several recent steps taken by Central Asian republics suggest an increasing boldness against Western pressure by the region's autocratic leaders, most of whom are key U.S. allies in its war against terrorism, Western officials say. Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the U.S. began using Central Asia as a jumping-off point for its war to dislodge the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan. The U.S. established military bases in three of the countries, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and obtained Air Force landing rights in Kazakhstan. U.S. aid to the region more than doubled. In recent months, however, the U.S. and Europe have been increasingly outspoken about the region's poor human-rights record, and in response, the region's leaders have begun to publicly resist those pressures. The Kazakh government says it officially charged a well-known opposition journalist with raping a 14-year-old girl, an accusation Western officials suggest may be politically motivated. The journalist, 49-year-old Sergei Duvanov, had been planning a trip to the U.S. for speaking engagements on Kazakhstan's human-rights record. He says the charges against him are fabricated. It is the third time Mr. Duvanov has accused the government of harassment since he wrote a story earlier this year for an Internet site about Swiss bank accounts allegedly belonging to President Nursultan Nazarbayev. The accounts are part of separate money-laundering investigations by the U.S. and Switzerland. In July, the Kazkah government charged Mr. Duvanov with criminal libel for the story, and in August -- two weeks before he was to attend a human-rights conference in Warsaw -- he was beaten and a cross carved into his chest by unidentified men. In a statement last week, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said, "The pattern of incidents involving Mr. Duvanov, their coincidence with his planned trips abroad to discuss publicly the situation in Kazakhstan, and the disputed circumstances the of latest case trigger concerns that these incidents may be politically motivated." The U.S. and Europe are increasingly critical of President Nazarbayev, particularly regarding a series of attacks on journalists. Mr. Duvanov's beating was the eighth unexplained assault on a local reporter in the country this year. The government has denied any role in the attacks, and last week Mr. Nazarbayev admonished diplomats in a yearly meeting that he "categorically rejects recommendations and advice aimed at unnaturally speeding up democratic processes." Mr. Nazarbayev's neighbors also appear increasingly brash, some analysts say. In Kyrgyzstan, President Askar Akayev has faced a drawn-out test of wills with his political opposition since police shot dead six demonstrators last March. More recently, Mr. Akayev said it is time for deeper democratic changes, yet critics complain that a Kyrgyz judge recently overturned an election victory by an opposition figure, saying his papers weren't in order, and gave the triumph to a challenger who
received just 19% of the vote. Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov recently used a news conference with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to assail critics of his human-rights record. And in Turkmenistan, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has...