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Appeal compiled after the regional conference "Human Dimension Commitments in Central Asia: Achievements and Challenges" to the Bulgarian Foreign Minister and the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Solomon Passy
Bishkek, 31 January 2004
The members of the conference share deep concern about the deterioration of the human rights situation in Central Asia as expressed at the OSCE Human Dimension Meeting held in October 2003 in Warsaw.
The members of the conference urge the OSCE Chairman-in-Office to give due attention to the following tendencies:
- use of anti-terrorist campaign by the governments of the region as an excuse to justify restriction of fundamental civil rights and freedoms and suppression of non-conformism, continuing repression of a large number of people in the region charged with religious extremism on no grounds, including fabrication of criminal cases, torture and inhuman treatment in detention facilities;
- absence of political will of the governments to eradicate torture and to hold abusive officials to justice. Use of testimonies extracted under torture as a decisive evidence of the defendant's guilt;
- efforts of some governments to hamper the operation of mass media through criminal and civil suits and legislative restrictions of freedom of expression;
- groundless limitation of activities of oppositional political parties. In this respect, the OSCE should adopt measures ensuring effective participation of the opposition in the coming presidential and parliamentary elections in the countries of the region.
The members of the conference call upon the OSCE to develop a more differentiated approach to the countries of the region, to apply specific professional standards when hiring personnel for work in the regional offices and they support the idea of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office to hold an international expert meeting on Central Asia in Sofia.
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