European Parliament resolution on Uzbekistan
Date: 2006-10-26
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: EU relations, Uzbekistan, human rights, international law, international sanctions

C 313 E/466

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

20.12.2006

Thursday 26 October 2006

1.
Urges the Guatemalan institutions to cooperate fully and do everything in their power to shed light on
human rights violations and to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice and that the findings of
investigations are made public, as called for in the international arrest warrant issued on 7 July 2006 by the
Spanish Audiencia Nacional against José Efraín Ríos Montt, Oscar Humberto Mejía Víctores, Ángel Aníbal
Guevara Rodríguez, Germán Chupina Barahona, Pedro García Arredondo, Benedicto Lucas García and
Donaldo Álvarez Ruiz, all of whom are accused of crimes of genocide, torture, terrorism and illegal deten-
tion;

Asks the governments and the management of the relevant banking entities concerned to cooperate in
2.
sequestrating the goods and property of the defendants, in order to ensure that they discharge their financial
and civil responsibilities;

Urges Interpol and Europol, in the event of a request being made by the appropriate authorities, to

3.
provide the necessary means to ensure extradition;

4.

Reaffirms its commitment to ensuring that those accused do not go unpunished;

5. Welcomes the progress made in the application of the principle of universal jurisdiction in respect of
crimes against humanity, genocide and torture;

6.
Considers that, should these proceedings be brought to a successful conclusion, the same procedure
should be followed under similar circumstances in taking action against dictators and persons responsible
for mass human rights violations;

7.
Expresses its support for the Guatemalan people and authorities, with a view to their continuing to
uphold the rule of law and fostering economic, social and political development, which will contribute to
peace and national reconciliation;

8.
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Government
of Guatemala, the governments of Central American countries, the Government of the United States of
America, and the Central American Parliament.

P6_TA(2006)0467

Uzbekistan

The European Parliament,

European Parliament resolution on Uzbekistan

— having regard to its previous resolutions on the Central Asian Republics and Uzbekistan, and in par-

ticular to its resolutions of 9 June 2005 (1) and 27 October 2005 (2),

— having regard to the Commission's Strategy Paper for Central Asia 2002-2006

— having regard to the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the European Communities and
their Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Uzbekistan, of the other part, which entered
into force on 1 July 1999,

— having regard to the conclusions of the meetings of the General Affairs and External Relations Council

of 18 July and 3 October 2005,

— having regard to the Council Presidency statements on the human rights situation in Uzbekistan in

2005 and 2006,

— having regard to the report of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances

published on 27 December 2005,

(1) OJ C 124 E, 25.5.2006, p. 560.
(2) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2005)0415.

20.12.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 313 E/467

Thursday 26 October 2006

— having regard to the trial monitoring report published by the Office for Democratic Institutions and
Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE/ODIHR) on 3 March
2006,

— having regard to the report by UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, on civil and politi-

cal rights, including the question of torture and detention, published on 21 March 2006,

— having regard to the letter on the situation of human rights in Uzbekistan sent by the Permanent
Representative of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the UN to the UN Secretary-General on 26 June 2006,

— having regard to Rule 115(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas the next meeting of the Cooperation Council between the European Union and the Republic of

Uzbekistan is scheduled for 8 November 2006,

B. whereas the General Affairs and External Relations Council is expected to consider on 13 November
2006 whether it will extend the sanctions adopted last year following the events of May 2005 in
Andijan,

C. whereas the government of Uzbekistan has not addressed the conditions which the Council set out

when sanctions were applied,

D. whereas the government of Uzbekistan has not yet allowed any independent inquiry into the events in
Andijan on 13 May 2005, despite the constant and repeated demands made during the past year by
various international bodies,

E. whereas following the Andijan massacre in 2005 the Uzbek authorities launched a crackdown on
human rights defenders, independent journalists and civil society institutions, putting on trial hundreds
of people suspected of involvement in the uprising,

F. whereas according to international human rights organisations there has been no news over the past
year of the thousands of people arrested in an attempt to hide the truth; whereas those in detention are
at serious risk of being subjected to torture and other ill-treatment; and whereas no observers have
been allowed to follow the trials of many of those charged with capital offences,

G. whereas, according to the report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture published in March 2006,
there has been no fundamental change in the widespread use of torture or in policies and practices that
could effectively combat it; whereas no meaningful steps have been taken by the Uzbek government to
end the culture of impunity,

H. whereas the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Tashkent was

closed on 17 March 2006,

I. whereas after the events in Andijan hundreds of Uzbek citizens were obliged to flee to the Kyrgyz
Republic and other neighbouring countries; and whereas Uzbek refugees have been extradited to Uzbe-
kistan in flagrant violation of the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees,

J. whereas Uzbek society is largely secular and the limited religious extremism which exists is essentially
fuelled by social injustice; and whereas the fight against religious extremism can only be conducted
through legal means and not through oppression,

K. whereas civil society in Central Asia,

is increasingly calling for a more open
including Uzbekistan,
society in which individual freedoms and human rights are fully respected, as well as for democratic
change,

C 313 E/468

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

20.12.2006

Thursday 26 October 2006

1.
Reiterates the importance of EU-Uzbekistan relations and acknowledges Uzbekistan's crucial role in
the Central Asia region, but stresses that those relations must be based on mutual respect for the principles
of democracy, rule of law and human rights, as is clearly laid down in the EU-Uzbekistan Partnership and
Cooperation Agreement;

2.
Calls on the Council to make a considered decision with a view to improved future relations, on
13 November 2006, on the possible extension of sanctions, based on commitments by the Uzbekistan
side during the EU-Uzbekistan Cooperation Council on 8 November 2006 and on information obtained
by European diplomats based in the area;

3.
Points out that the policy of targeted sanctions has not produced positive results so far, and therefore
calls on the Commission and Council to review the situation carefully in order to find ways and means of
achieving the political objectives set;

4.

Insists that the embargo on arms sales and military transfers be continued;

5.
Calls on Uzbekistan to cooperate fully with the OSCE and with the UN, especially with regard to the
call for a credible and transparent independent enquiry, to comply with international law and to be receptive
to any of the UN special procedures for which invitations have been requested and open to OSCE monitors
and independent observers;

6.
Calls on the Council to take all necessary measures within the UN Human Rights Council to ensure
the confidential ‘1503’ procedure does not continue to apply to Uzbekistan and to subject this country to a
public mechanism of scrutiny as recommended by Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights, in her July 2005 report on the Andijan massacre;

Urges the Government of Uzbekistan to release all human rights defenders, journalists and political
in detention and to allow them to work freely and without fear of

7.
opposition members who are still
persecution, and to put an end to the harassment of NGOs;

8.

Urges the Uzbekistan authorities to permit the reopening of the UNHCR Office in Tashkent;

9.
Calls on the Kyrgyz Republic and the other neighbouring countries to fully respect the 1951 UN
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, under which no refugees should be forcibly returned to
their country of origin, and thus not to extradite Uzbek refugees to Uzbekistan; urges, in this regard, the
Council and the Commission to closely follow the situation of all Uzbek refugees who have already been
extradited to Uzbekistan;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the EU Special
10.
Representative for Central Asia, the Presidents, Governments and Parliaments of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan,
the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Secretary General of the OSCE.