Having trouble viewing this email? Click here.
Uzbekistan security forces fired projected flash/bang grenades at protesters in Kanlykul, Karakalpakstan, July 2022. © 2022 BaseKZ |
Police responded to largely peaceful protests in July with lethal force and excessive violence in Uzbekistan’s autonomous region, Karakalpakstan. At least 21 people died, including four law enforcement officers, and more than 270 were injured.
The protests began after the Uzbek government proposed amendments to the country’s constitution that would strip certain rights from people in Karakalpakstan, which has a population of nearly 2 million. After activists began sounding the alarm, the government appears to have disrupted internet access in the region.
While Human Rights Watch had difficulty piecing together an exact timeline due to the restricted internet, it seems that people began taking to the streets following the arrest of a prominent lawyer and journalist who called for a peaceful rally on July 5.
HRW analyzed scores of videos of the protest, as well as dozens more videos and photographs of dead or wounded protesters and the weapons used, which demonstrators and witnesses uploaded to social media.
We also reviewed information from local media and the authorities for the new report, documenting that security forces quickly began arresting protesters and firing on them with small arms and explosive grenades, killing many people and causing horrific injuries.
In response to the violence, Uzbekistan’s parliament created a commission to investigate the events in Karakalpakstan. But it has neither issued a final report nor indicated when it plans to.
Uzbekistan’s government has a long track record of grave human rights violations, including torture and stifling rights groups and journalists. Its response to the July events will be a test of whether Uzbekistan has turned a page and truly intends to respect human rights and the rule of law.
|
An Egyptian laborer works at a charcoal factory in the fertile Delta north of Cairo, January 2020. © 2020 Mohamed El-Shahed/AFP via Getty Images The UN climate conference COP27 began this week in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, and HRW is on the ground. Much of the international attention in the run-up to COP27 has rightly honed in on the intersection of climate and human rights, putting a spotlight on Egypt’s dire rights record. On Tuesday, HRW’s Acting Executive Director Tirana Hassan spoke at a packed COP27 side event featuring two Egyptian activists speaking out for the first time in years. For our latest reporting on this year’s climate conference, follow us on social media and visit our website. |
| Nineteen Sahrawi activists languish in prison 12 years after Moroccan courts convicted them in unfair proceedings. |
|
|
|
|
|
| | US voters in some states backed reproductive rights, abolition of some lingering vestiges of slavery, and decriminalization of marijuana. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Two years ago this week, former Tolo News TV presenter Yama Siawash was killed in a car bombing, moments after he climbed into a government-owned vehicle in Kabul. |
|
|
|
|
This week, HRW Communications Manager Birgit Schwartz spoke with youth climate activists to discuss climate change, actions needed in the Global South, and why young activists should sit at the negotiating table. |
|
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten