Uzbekistan

Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs written question – answered at on 19 December 2002.

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Photo of Greg Pope Greg Pope Labour, Hyndburn

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he last discussed human rights with representatives of the Government of Uzbekistan.

Photo of Mike O'Brien Mike O'Brien Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Foreign & Commonwealth Office

When I last met the Uzbek Ambassador on 4 September, I raised human rights. The Permanent Under Secretary also raised human rights issues with Uzbek Foreign Minister Kamilov in London in September. Officials raise the subject regularly, most recently with the Uzbek Ambassador on 16 December. The UK also makes representations with the EU wherever possible and was recently part of an EU delegation making representations to Deputy Foreign Minister Safaev on the deaths of two prisoners, apparently due to torture. We also make statements on human rights issues, both with the EU and bilaterally: our Ambassador made a strong speech in October at the opening of the Freedom House NGO in Tashkent, while in December the EU made a statement protesting about the unfair trial of Iskander Khudaiberganov.

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