WUNRN
Please see multiple parts of this
WUNRN Release on human rights, journalist freedom, and gender in
UZBEKISTAN.
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Rights groups ridicule suggestions that Umida Ahmedova’s images libel Uzbek nation as a whole.
By IWPR staff in Central Asia (RCA No. 601, 22-Jan-10)
Police
in Uzbekistan are compiling an unusual criminal case against one of the
country’s leading photographers, Umida Ahmedova. The charge is defamation, and
the insulted party is the population of Uzbekistan.
IWPR has learned that Ahmedova was required to sign an undertaking not to leave the country by a police investigator on January 13. A month earlier, she was charged with defamation and with harming Uzbekistan's reputation, RFE/RL radio reported.
The case against her is based on two articles of the criminal code, carrying penalties of up to six months in jail.
The substance of the alleged defamation differs from any run-of-the-mill libel case – it is said to be not against any individual, but against the Uzbek nation as a whole. Nor is it based on statements made by Ahmedova; instead, the charges derive from visual images of life in the countryside, which have been deemed too negative.
Police investigator Komil Akbarov has released a document containing the joint findings of the Centre for Mass Communications Monitoring and a group of experts including a religious affairs analyst and two psychologists, whom the authorities tasked with assessing Ahmedova’s photographic and documentary film work.
They wrote the report after studying a published collection of Ahmedova’s photographs called “Women and Men from Dawn to Dusk”, and two documentaries that she co-authored called "The Burden Of Virginity" and "Women and Men in Custom and Ritual".
Censors and experts agreed that the material contained “unscientific, unfounded and inappropriate commentaries containing a hidden subtext intended to discredit the principles and customs of the [Uzbek] nation”.
“The Burden of Virginity”, which can be seen here, deals with the tradition that young women must maintain chastity until marriage, and showed the story of a girl driven from the bridegroom’s home in shame. The film was funded by the Swiss embassy in Tashkent and released in May 2009.
“Dissemination of this film does great damage to the spiritual values of Uzbekistan,” said the official report. “It does not correspond to ideological requirements.”
The other documentary and Ahmedova’s book of photos showed how people live in remote parts of Uzbekistan. Her depiction of reality offended both censors and experts, who concluded, “Ninety per cent of the photos in the album were taken in remote, backward villages and the authors aimed to show the tough side of life. Umida Ahmedova’s lens does not capture beautiful places, modern buildings and prosperous villages.”
Ahmedova says the charges are so lacking in substance that it would rebound on the authorities if they put her on trial.
“I’m hoping the case will collapse as it has no foundation whatsoever,” she said. “These expert findings amount to nothing at all. I’m counting on them to have the common sense not to take this to a trial which would evoke a furious response and bring down still greater shame on them.”
Surat Ikramov, who heads the Initiative Group of Independent Human Rights Defenders in Uzbekistan, praises Ahmedova for portraying life as people live it.
“This is documentary photography,” he said. “It’s the creative approach of an individual, in this case a photojournalist.”
Ikramov believes the fact that such a prosecution could be envisaged at all reflects badly on the authorities.
“It’s absurd and comical,” he said. “They should be ashamed of themselves. I believe the entire world is going to be laughing at this.”
Yelena Urlaeva of the Human Rights Alliance of Uzbekistan says the authorities are pursuing the case because they do not want wider public awareness of social conditions and problems in the country.
“The authorities are afraid that her photographs show that poverty is rife in Uzbekistan, that people are in need, that there is no welfare provision for them, ruined homes and thin children. All of that shows the regime up,” she said.
KavKazia, an international coalition of journalists, has written to the Uzbek authorities urging them to cease the persecution of Ahmedova immediately. The letter was signed by journalists and TV reporters from the Caucasus, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakstan, Denmark and Germany. In its annual report, entitled “Freedom in the World 2010: Global Erosion of Freedom”, the United States-based watchdog Freedom House listed Uzbekistan among the nine least free countries worldwide. Reporters Without Borders also ranked the country among the world’s most repressive states with regard to press freedom.
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Full Article: http://cpj.org/2010/01/journalist-charged-with-insulting-uzbeks-faces-8-y.php#more
New York, January 22, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the Uzbek authorities to immediately drop all charges against Umida Akhmedova, a prominent photojournalist and documentary filmmaker who covers gender, ethnic, and cultural issues, and allow her to continue to do her work without fear of reprisal.........
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UN Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women Considers Report of Uzbekistan - http://www2.ohchr.org/english/ No Direct Link to Press Release - Go to Website Link - (Top Bar) Click News & Events to MEDIA CENTRE - Go to Top News and Left Hand Column Scroll Down to CEDAW Uzbekistan Review Press Release - 20 January 2010
Excerpt:
On
the status of the Women's Committee, Uzbekistan did not impose Governmental
structures on NGOs. The State was responsible itself for implementation of the
Convention, but the Women's Committee coordinated activities of NGOs working in
this area. Uzbekistan was proud to be a traditional society, an Islamic
country, and Mr. Saidov did not agree that a traditional society meant that it
undermined the rights of women. Traditional meant the way of life, and this
should be structured to uphold the rights of women. Uzbekistan was also a
secular state, with Islamic traditions, and thus traditional values were upheld
and respected by all, being against cultural relativism, and not believing that
tradition went against human rights.
The
media was overseen to ensure that it did not perpetrate patriarchal stereotypes
of women.
Families
were the foundation of society - this was a Constitutional norm, but the family
should not violate women's rights; men and women should be on an equal footing
therein, and the State should protect these rights.
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Defending Women - Defending Rights.org - Full Article: http://www.defendingwomen-defendingrights.org/uzbekistan_umida.php
UMIDA
NIYAZOVA IS ARRESTED
Mother, Human Rights Defender, Journalist
|
Umida
Niyazova is an Uzbek human rights defender and journalist. During late 1990s,
Umida worked with the international NGOs Internews and Freedom House. She
played an active role in many international human rights and social projects.
In ths course of her work Umida wrote a number of critical reports about the
worsening social and economic situation in Uzbekistan................ |
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----- Original Message -----
From: WUNRN
ListServe
To: WUNRN ListServe
Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2009 11:44 AM
Subject: Uzbekistan - Woman Human Rights Defender Umida Ahmedova
Facing Charges
WUNRN
Uzbekistan - The Observatory has been informed by
reliable sources about the judicial harassment faced by Ms. Umida Ahmedova, a women human rights defender,
photographer and film-maker from Uzbekistan.
______________________________________________________________
Attached is the CaucAsia Magazine of
July 2006, which includes a picture and article of Umida Ahmedova at
the Gender & Networks Conference. Umida showed her gender films, and
created a documentary at this Conference of CaucAsia, International Coalition
of Gender Journalists.
________________________________________________________________________
URGENT APPEAL
- THE OBSERVATORY
UZB 011 / 1209 /
OBS 197
Judicial harassment
Uzbekistan
December 22, 2009
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights
Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent
intervention in the following situation in Uzbekistan.
Brief description of the situation:
The Observatory has been informed
by reliable sources about the judicial harassment faced by Ms. Umida
Ahmedova, a women human rights defender, photographer
and film-maker from Uzbekistan.
According to the information
received, on December 16, 2009, Ms. Umida
Ahmedova was informed by the Mirobod Department of Internal Affairs that she
was facing charges of “slander”
and “insult” (respectively Articles 139 and 140 of the Uzbek Criminal Code) of
the Uzbek people. Those charges were brought by the Tashkent Prosecutor's Office, in relation to her
book of photographs entitled Women and Men: From
Dawn to Dusk, which was published in 2007 and contains
110 photographs reflecting the life and traditions of Uzbek people, as well as
to her documentary films Women and Men in Customs and Rituals and Virginity Code. She is
facing up to six months’ imprisonment or from two to three years of
“correctional work”.
These charges
follow an investigation carried out in November 2009 by the Uzbek Agency of Media and Information
into several books and films on gender issues that were produced in
collaboration with the Gender Programme of the Swiss Embassy in Tashkent.
The Observatory condemns the
proceedings faced by Ms. Umida Ahmedova, which seem to merely aim at
sanctioning her human rights activities.
The Observatory recalls that as a participating State
of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Uzbekistan
recognises “the need for particular attention, support and protection for human
rights defenders by the OSCE, its Institutions and field operations, as well as
by participating States”.
The Observatory further urges the
European Commission Delegation as well as European Union (EU) Member-States
embassies in the Uzbekistan to call upon the Uzbek authorities to comply with
the relevant international norms and standards, in particular the United
Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, and take action on the
above-mentioned elements, in line with the EU Guidelines on Human Rights
Defenders.
Actions required:
Please write to the Uzbek authorities urging them to:
i.
Guarantee in all
circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Ms. Umida
Ahmedova;
ii.
Put an end to all
acts of harassment - including at the judicial level - against Ms. Umida
Ahmedova as well as
against all human rights defenders in Uzbekistan and ensure in all
circumstances that they be able to carry out their work without unjustified
hindrances;
iii.
Conform with the
provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted
by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, especially
its Article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually and in
association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and
realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international
levels” and its Article 12.2, which states that “the State shall take all
necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of
everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence,
threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or
any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise
of the rights referred to in the present Declaration”;
iv.
Ensure in all
circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance
with international human rights standards and international instruments
ratified by Uzbekistan.
Addresses :
· President of Uzbekistan, Mr. Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov, ul. Uzbekistanskaya
43, Rezidentsia prezidenta, 700163 Tashkent, Republic of Uzbekistan, E-mail: presidents_office@press-service.uz
· Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Vladimir Imamovich Norov, Respublika Uzbekistan; 700029 g. Tashkent; pl. Mustakillik, 5; Ministerstvo inostrannykh del RU,
S.S., Uzbekistan, Fax: + 998 71 139 15 17, E-Mail: info@tiv.uz
· Head of the Directorate of Execution of Sentences,
Ministry of Internal Affairs, Mr. Abdukarim Shodiev, Ferganskoe shosse, 25,
700005 g. Tashkent, Republic of Uzbekistan. Fax:
+998 71 1916835. Email: mvd@mvd,uz / info@mvd.uz
· Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms.
Sayora Rashidova, ul. Xalqlar Dostligi 1, 700035 Tashkent, Republic of
Uzbekistan, Fax: +998 71 139 85 55
· Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Mr. Buritosh Mustafaev, Respublika Uzbekistan; 700183 g. Tashkent; ul.
Abdulla Kodiri, 1; Verkhovny Sud Respubliki Uzbekistan, Fax: + 998 71 144-62-93
· General Prosecutor of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Mr.
Rashidjon Hamidovich Kodirov, ul. Gulyamova 66, 700047 Tashkent, Republic of
Uzbekistan, Fax: +998 71 133 39 17 / 133 73 68
· National Centre for Human Rights, Senator Akmal Saidov, Natsionalny
tsentr po pravam cheloveka, 5/3, Mustakillik Maidoni, g. 700029 Tashkent,
Republic of Uzbekistan. Fax: + 998 71 139 13 56 / 45 16
· Permanent Mission of the Republic of Uzbekistan to
the United Nations in Geneva, PO Box 1853, 1215 Geneva 15, Switzerland, Fax:
+4122 799 43 02, E-mail: uzbekistan@bluewin.ch
Please also write to the diplomatic representations of
Uzbekistan in your respective countries.
***
Geneva-Paris, December 22, 2009
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the
code of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated
to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete
support in their time of need.
The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human
Rights Prize of the French Republic.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
· Email
: Appeals@fidh-omct.org
· Tel
et fax OMCT : +41 22 809 49 39 / 41 22 809 49 29
· Tel et fax FIDH : + 33 1 43 55 55 05 / 33 1 43 55 18 80
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