Deutsche Welle recently carried a report on an Uzbek NGO, which I have translated in full. I apologise in advance for any grievous inaccuracies.

In the Uzbek region of Khorezm, a non-governmental organization called Nazhot (Hope) has been operating for the last six years. The group, which is not registered with the Ministry of Justice, is actively engaged with monitoring the human rights situation in Turkmenistan. It also provides legal assistance and information to Turkmen citizens, as well as Uzbeks, arrested in the neighbouring state. Natalia Bashueva spoke to Deutsch Welle about some aspects of the group’s work.
In recent times, human rights workers have detected a sharp deterioration in border policies towards Uzbeks. According to Nazhot, in 2006 alone, 32 Uzbek businessmen were arrested in Turkmenistan for completely unfounded reasons. As Nazhot chairman Khaiytboi Yakubov said:

“They were people doing business. They were bringing gasoline to Uzbekistan and taking back vegetables and fruit.”

Human rights groups have been vocal in calling for the Uzbek government not to remain indifferent to the plight to citizens having their basic rights infringed in Turkmenistan. According to Yakubov, around 3,000 Uzbeks living in the Khorezm region have had seals put into their passports attesting to their previous deportation. Uzbek citizens have told human rights workers that they have often been detained illegally by Turkmen border officials and have been jailed by Turkmen courts on the alleged charge of having illegally crossed the border. Not a single Uzbek defendant was supplied with a lawyer.

“Only once the Turkmen president declares an amnesty do people get to return home. So people go to jail for no reason. What is more, they are tortured and beaten in the prisons. People return home from jail in a state of illness.
“Life for prisoners in Turkmenistan is extremely tough. Jails are full of people from Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Russia and other people from all over the CIS. These people never get any legal assistance. When they were put on trial, they had no protection. If a lawyer is supplied, they can only speak Turkmen and the defendants are not offered a translator.”

According to Yakubov, things are no easier for ethnic Uzbeks permanently residing in Turkmenistan.

“I’ll tell you about the kind of things that people there told us. For example, if a person is not Turkmen, they are put to the end of the queue in shops. Turkmens buy first, then Uzbeks or Russians, or any other nationality. Turkmens get all the perks. The same thing goes on in medical clinics. Aid is first given to Turkmens, then to other people.”

Incidentally, according to Yakubov, about 20 Turkmens are sent every month for medical treatment to clinics in the Khorezm region in Uzbekistan. This is due to the fact that almost medical facilities were recently transferred to capital, Ashgabat. Turkmens have to approach Uzbek doctors unofficially, though treatment still works out cheaper this way than in getting it in Turkmenistan. However, getting access to Uzbek clinics is not particularly easy as a result of the laws restricting movement in Turkmenistan:

“If people are travelling to a location over 100 kilometres away, they have to provide the authorities with their motivations for the trip. The police are authorised to collect such information. This means that if residents of a remote region wish to go to Ashgabat they are obliged to specify the reason for their trip.”

Turkmen citizens are also forbidden from seeking medical assistance in the Khorezm region for an extended period:

“Also, if they need treatment in the next ten or fifteen days, Turkmen citizens get documents from Uzbekistan attesting to the fact that they are going to some clinic or other. This is because under Turkmen law people are only allowed to cross the border once a month for a period of three days.”