Uzbekistan: Government

Principal Government Officials

Chief of State: President Islam Karimov
Head of Government: Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyaev

The constitution of Uzbekistan provides for separation of powers, freedom of speech, and representative government. In reality, the executive holds almost all power. The judiciary lacks independence, and the legislature--which holds a few sessions each year--has limited power to shape laws. The president selects and replaces provincial governors. Islam Karimov, former First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Uzbek SSR Communist Party, was elected to a 5-year presidential term in December 1991 with 88% of the vote. In a December 1995 referendum, his term was extended to 2000. President Karimov was re-elected in January 2000 with 91.9% of the vote. In a January 2002 referendum, the term of the presidency was extended from 5 years to 7. President Karimov was re-elected in December 2007 with 88.1% of the vote. None of these elections or referenda were deemed free or fair.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) did not deploy a full election observation mission to the December 2009 parliamentary elections due to threshold concerns that the elections did not offer a real choice between political alternatives. It did send a smaller election assessment mission, however, which noted some improvements in the way the elections were conducted.

In the late 1990s, Uzbekistan began battling a low-intensity insurgency. Early in the following decade, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) launched a number of small, cross-border raids. The IMU in summer 2001 allied itself with the Taliban government in Afghanistan, where most of its troops were then based, and subsequently engaged U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Since the fall of the Taliban government in 2001, the IMU appears to have become less active in Uzbekistan.

Terrorist bombings, blamed on the IMU and splinter groups, have occurred sporadically, including multiple, simultaneous attacks in Tashkent in 1999 that destroyed a portion of the Ministry of Interior headquarters and narrowly missed President Karimov. Death estimates in those attacks and in subsequent shootouts in Tashkent with alleged bombers range as high as 200. The official government death tally was 16. In March and April 2004, suicide bombers struck the U.S. and Israeli Embassies in Tashkent and also detonated devices in the city of Bukhara.

In May 2005, armed gunman in the city of Andijon attacked a police station, seized weapons and then stormed a prison, freeing members of a local Islamic organization accused by the government of extremism. In events whose details remain unclear, the attackers then gathered in Andijon's main square. Thousands of local residents also gathered in the square. Shooting erupted between government forces and the insurgents, and a large but undetermined number of individuals were killed. The Government of Uzbekistan, which put the death toll at 187, refused to heed European and U.S. calls for an independent international investigation. Unofficial death toll estimates range as high as 700 to 800. While an international investigation did not take place, the government claimed to have conducted internal investigations into the May 2005 events. It discussed investigation techniques and results with diplomats and other international representatives in 2006, 2007, and 2008.

In May 2009, a suicide bomber in the city of Andijon and an assault on a border post near the town of Khanabad on the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border caused the Uzbek Government to temporarily close its border with Kyrgyzstan and to place some portions of the Ferghana Valley under lockdown conditions. In mid-June 2010, up to 100,000 ethnic Uzbek refugees fled from Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan following ethnic clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan. The Uzbek Government worked closely with international organizations to provide food and shelter to the refugees until they returned to Kyrgyzstan in late June.

Human Rights
Uzbekistan has no meaningful political opposition. Five pro-government political parties hold all seats in the parliament, and independent political parties have been effectively suppressed since the early 1990s. Multiple independent and governmental media outlets (radio, TV, newspaper) exist. Self-censorship is the norm. Editors and journalists who have broached politically sensitive topics have routinely experienced repercussions, including criminal libel charges and loss of employment.

Since 1991, many prominent opponents of the government have fled, and others have been arrested. The government severely represses those it suspects of Islamic extremism, including those suspected of any affiliation to organizations such as the banned extremist Party of Islamic Liberation (Hizb ut-Tahrir) or the more moderate Nurchilar (followers of Said Nursi of Turkey). Thousands of suspected extremists have been incarcerated since 1992. The exact number remaining in custody is unknown but may be several thousand. The police force and the intelligence service have used torture as a routine investigation technique. A large number of prisoners have reportedly died in custody, many from disease and other poor conditions and others from mistreatment and abuse. Political prisoners and suspected extremists are allegedly treated worse than ordinary prisoners.

In May 2003, following the visit of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, the Government of Uzbekistan drafted an action plan to implement the Rapporteur's recommendations. The government has since restarted cooperation with international organizations involved in prison monitoring. Prison conditions and the prevalence of torture are widely believed to remain problematic. Uzbekistan abolished the death penalty in January 2008. It became a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in February 2009.

FOREIGN RELATIONS
Uzbekistan is a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the United Nations, the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, NATO Partnership for Peace, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), and the Economic Cooperation Organization--comprised of the five Central Asian countries, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. In 1999, Uzbekistan joined the GUAM alliance (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova), which was formed in 1997 (making it GUUAM), but formally withdrew in 2005. Uzbekistan hosts the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's (SCO) Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) in Tashkent. In 2006, Uzbekistan joined the Eurasian Economic Community (EurASEC), comprising Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, but subsequently withdrew in 2008.

Uzbekistan participated in the CIS peacekeeping force in Tajikistan and in UN-organized groups to help resolve the Tajik and Afghan conflicts, both of which it viewed as posing threats to its own stability. Uzbekistan is a supporter of U.S. efforts against worldwide terrorism and joined the coalition combating terrorism in Afghanistan. It continues to support coalition anti-terrorist operations in Afghanistan by allowing shipment of non-lethal goods through by rail to Afghanistan and by granting access to Germany to an air base in southern Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan has actively participated in regional efforts to combat terrorism and the narcotics trade.

Sources: