The US government should not move toward “business as usual” with Uzbekistan, a group of 20 human rights organizations, labor and consumer groups, trade unions, investors, and other organizations said today in a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The letter’s signatories, including CIVICUS, expressed concern over proposed US legislation to permit military and other assistance to the Uzbek government, one of the most repressive in the world.
On September 21, 2011, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a bill that will allow taxpayer-funded military assistance to the Uzbek government. Uzbek authorities silence civil society activists, independent journalists, and all political opposition; severely curtail freedom of expression and religion; and organize forced child labor on a massive scale.
