Human rights in Uzbekistan have been described as "abysmal" by Human Rights Watch, and the country has received heavy criticism from the UK and the US for alleged arbitrary arrests, religious persecution, and torture employed by the government on a regional and national level. Amnesty International stated that freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly continue to be restricted, and that same-sex relations are illegal.
Overview
Human Rights Watch stated that "Uzbekistan's record of cooperation with United Nations human rights mechanisms is arguably among the worst in the world. For the past 12 years, it has ignored requests for access by all 11 United Nations human rights experts, and has rejected virtually all recommendations that international bodies have made for human rights improvements." IHF has expressed profound concern about "wide-scale violation of virtually all basic human rights."IHF, Human Rights in OSCE Region: Europe, Central Asia and North America - Uzbekistan, Report 2004 (events of 2003), 2004-06-23
Furthermore, religious freedom is one of the country's greatest issues.
The US Department of State has designated Uzbekistan a "Country of Particular Concern" for the religious persecution practiced in the country,United States Department of State: International Religious Freedom Report 2008: Executive Summary. and have defined Uzbekistan as "an authoritarian state with limited civil rights."US Department of State, 2004 Country report on Human Rights Practices in Uzbekistan , released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, February 28, 2005 Human Rights Watch, however, says that the US government has "resisted imposing any serious policy or consequences for Uzbekistan's dismal rights record, viewing Tashkent as a key ally along the Northern Distribution Network (NDN) that it is using to withdraw supplies from the war in Afghanistan".
According to reports, the most widespread violations of human rights are torture, arbitrary arrests, and various restrictions of freedoms of religion, of speech and press, of free association and assembly.OMCT and Legal Aid Society, DENIAL OF JUSTICE IN UZBEKISTAN - an assessment of the human rights situation and national system of protection of fundamental rights , April 2005. The reports maintain that the violations are most often committed against members of religious organizations, independent journalists, human rights activists and political activists, including members of banned opposition parties. In 2005, Uzbekistan was included into Freedom House's "The Worst of the Worst: The World's Most Repressive Societies".
The official position of the Uzbek government is summarized in a memorandum titled "The Measures Taken by the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the Field of Providing and Encouraging Human Rights"Embassy of Uzbekistan to the US, Press-Release: THE MEASURES, TAKEN BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN IN THE FIELD OF PROVIDING AND ENCOURAGING HUMAN RIGHTS , October 24, 2005 and amounts to the following. The government does everything that is in its power to protect and to guarantee the human rights of Uzbekistan's citizens. Uzbekistan continuously improves its laws and institutions in order to create a more humane society. Over 300 laws regulating the rights and basic freedoms of the people have been passed by the parliament. For instance, an office of Ombudsman was established in 1996.UZBEKISTAN DAILY DIGEST, UZBEKISTAN'S OMBUDSMAN REPORTS ON 2002 RESULTS , December 25, 2007 On 2 August 2005, President Islom Karimov signed a decree that will abolish capital punishment in Uzbekistan on 1 January 2008.
Craig Murray, British ambassador 2002–2004, investigated human rights abuses, and, when his bosses at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office ignored his reports, he went public, bringing international attention to the situation. He was dismissed from his post, but continued to speak out against human rights abuses in the country. He also claimed there was extraordinary rendition by the United States of America to Uzbekistan, with surreptitious use of information obtained under torture as a result. Murray was removed from his post in October 2004, shortly after a leaked report in the Financial Times quoted him as claiming that MI6 used intelligence provided by Uzbek authorities that was acquired through torture. The FCO denied there was any direct connection and stated that Murray had been removed for "operational" reasons. In his book Murder in Samarkand (2006), Murray speculates that his anti-torture memos caused two problems for the US and UK governments. First, the CIA's extraordinary rendition program was secretly using Uzbekistan as a destination country to fly people to be tortured. Second, the transcripts of the torture sessions were then shared with Britain's MI6 because of the UK-US intelligence sharing agreements of World War II. By objecting to the UK's acceptance of CIA torture-obtained information, he was interfering with the secret rendition program as well as threatening the MI6's relationship with the CIA.Dirty Diplomacy (UK edition: Murder in Samarkand, 2006), 2007, p. 332
The 2005 civil unrest in Uzbekistan, which resulted in several hundred people being killed is viewed by many as a landmark event in the history of human rights abuse in Uzbekistan,Uzbekistan: Independent international investigation needed into Andizhan events | Amnesty International A concern has been expressed and a request for an independent investigation of the events has been made by the United States, European Union, the UN, the OSCE Chairman-in-Office and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. The government of Uzbekistan is accused of unlawful termination of human life, denying its citizens freedom of assembly and freedom of expression. The government vehemently tried to rebuff the accusations, maintaining that it merely conducted an anti-terrorist operation, exercising only necessary force.Press-service of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan: In addition, some officials claim that "an information war on Uzbekistan has been declared" and the human rights violations in Andijan are invented by the enemies of Uzbekistan as a convenient pretext for intervention into the country's internal affairs.Kreml.Org | Áîäéöáîóëéå Óïâùôéñ Óôáìé Ðï×Ïäïí Äìñ Âåóðòåãåäåîôîïçï Äá×Ìåîéñ Îá Õúâåëéóôáî
The Constitution of Uzbekistan asserts that "democracy in the Republic of Uzbekistan shall be based upon common human principles, according to which the highest value shall be the human being, his life, freedom, honor, dignity and other inalienable rights".
Uzbekistan has abolished the death penalty. The abolition, initiated by the August 2005 decrees of President Karimov, became effective on January 1, 2008. Capital punishment has been substituted by longer term deprivation of liberty and life sentencing (see Death penalty in Uzbekistan).
In 2015 Human Rights Watch reported that:
Freedom of religion
Religious literature which is not state-approved, including the Bible, is often confiscated and destroyed.Uzbekistan: Religious freedom survey, April 2005 Forum 18
Forum 18, a human rights organisation based in Norway, has documented raids by Uzbek police in which participants in unregistered religious services were beaten, fined, threatened and intimidated. In August 2005 one of the organisation's reporters was detained and deported by the authorities at Tashkent airport in Uzbekistan.
The Office of Public Information of Jehovah's Witnesses has documented several cases with imprisonment for teaching religion. The Barnabas Fund also states that Pastor Dmitri Shestakov was imprisoned for 4 years for Christian activities.
Torture
U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said in November 2007 that Uzbek prison authorities routinely beat prisoners and use electric shocks, asphyxiation and sexual humiliation to extract information and confessions. According to a forensic report commissioned by the British embassy, in August 2002 two prisoners were boiled to death. According to a report by the Human Rights Watch, Muslim prisoners have been tortured for praying. The United Nations Committee Against Torture described "widespread, routine torture and ill-treatment" in Uzbekistan.
Forced labour
Women's rights
Compulsory sterilization
It is reported that Uzbekistan has been pursuing a policy of forced sterilizations, hysterectomies and IUD insertions since the late 1990s in order to impose population control.Birth Control by Decree in Uzbekistan IWPR Institute for War & Peace Reporting, published 2005-11-18, accessed 2012-04-12BBC News: Uzbekistan's policy of secretly sterilising women BBC, published 2012-04-12, accessed 2012-04-12Crossing Continents: Forced Sterilisation in Uzbekistan BBC, published 2012-04-12, accessed 2012-04-12Uzbeks Face Forced Sterilization The Moscow Times published 2010-03-10, accessed 2012-04-12Shadow Report: UN Committee Against Torture United Nations, authors Rapid Response Group and OMCT, published November 2007, accessed 2012-04-12
Domestic violence Domestic violence against women is a serious problem in Uzbekistan. A survey by UNICEF found that 69.6% of women agreed that a husband is justified to beat or hit his wife under certain circumstances (including 61.2% if the wife goes out without telling him, and 47.9% if she argues with him).
Internet Uzbekistan's "freedom on the net status" is "not free" in the 2012 and 2013 Freedom on the Net reports from Freedom House."Uzbekistan" , Freedom on the Net 2012, Freedom House, 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2013."Uzbekistan" , Freedom on the Net 2013, Freedom House, 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013. Uzbekistan maintains the most extensive and pervasive filtering system among the CIS countries and has been listed as an Internet enemy by Reporters Without Borders since the list was created in 2006.Internet Enemies , Reporters Without Borders, Paris, March 2011 The OpenNet Initiative found evidence that Internet filtering was pervasive in the political area and selective in the social, conflict/security, and Internet tools areas during testing that was reported in 2008 and 2010."ONI Country Profiles" , Research section at the OpenNet Initiative web site, a collaborative partnership of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto; the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University; and the SecDev Group, Ottawa
Uzbekistan prevents access to websites regarding banned Islamic movements, independent media, NGOs, and material critical of the government's human rights violations. Some Internet cafes in the capital have posted warnings that users will be fined for viewing pornographic websites or website containing banned political material. The main VoIP protocols SIP and IAX used to be blocked for individual users; however, as of July 2010, blocks were no longer in place. Facebook was blocked for a few days in 2010. English translation .
Internet censorship in Uzbekistan increased following the events of the Arab Spring in 2011. Additional websites are blocked, contributors to online discussion of the events in Egypt, Tunisia, and Bahrain have been arrested, and news about demonstrations and protest movements have been blocked. The BBC website was unblocked in late 2011, but since January 2012, specific pages dealing with the Arab Spring have been inaccessible. ISPs and mobile phone operators are required to report mass mailings of "suspicious content" and to disconnect networks upon authorities’ requests."Uzbekistan country report" , Reporters Without Borders, 12 March 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2013.