Uzbekistan: The treatment of ethnic Tajiks and the state protection available to them (January 2000 - December 2000)
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 6 December 2000 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | UZB35833.E |
| Reference | 2 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Uzbekistan: The treatment of ethnic Tajiks and the state protection available to them (January 2000 - December 2000), 6 December 2000, UZB35833.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3df4bec30.html [accessed 26 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
A 13 October 2000 Nezavisimaya Gazeta article states:
Among the measures official Tashkent is taking to stop guerrillas from infiltrating the republic, the mining of certain sections of the Uzbek-Tajik border is a rather serious one. As a rule, residents of border villages are moved elsewhere before this is done. In Surkhan-Darya Province, according to unofficial sources, about 1,5000 residents of villages near the administrative border with Tajikistan were moved to the country's interior. The official line is that this was done for their own safety. But it didn't escape observers' attention that there were virtually no men between the ages of 16 and 65 among the people who were resettled. Several theories [are] being offered to explain this. One is that the men hid in order to stay behind and tend the livestock, which simply couldn't be moved. According to another theory, the male population (ethnic Tajiks) fled to Tajikistan, fearing persecution by Uzbek troops who, eyewitnesses say, "consider every bearded man in the Babatag mountains a guerrilla from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan."
An 8 November 2000 broadcast of the Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran states:
... under the pretext of preventing Islamic forces from infiltrating into the country, ethnic Tajiks living on Uzbekistan's areas bordering on Tajikistan are being moved to other areas. In other words they are being exiled, in the way [former Soviet leader Joseph] Stalin exiled the Tartars.
No additional information on the treatment of ethnic Tajiks in Uzbekistan, nor on the state protection available to them, could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
References
Nezavisimaya Gazeta [Moscow]. 13 October 2000. "Uzbekistan's Use of Antipersonnel Mines Along Border with Tajikistan to Block Rebel Infiltration Said to Put Villagers at Risk." (Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press 8 Nov. 2000/NEXIS)
Voice of the Islamic Republic [Mashhad, in Persian]. 8 November 2000. "Iran Radio Reports on Uzbeks from Areas Bordering Tajikistan." (FBIS-NES-2000-1108 8 Nov. 2000)
Additional Sources Consulted
Correspondence sent to two oral sources
IRB databases
LEXIS/NEXIS
Nationalities Papers
Internet sites including:
Amnesty International
Central Asia Monitor
Eurasianet.org: News and Analysis from Central Asia and the Caucasus
Human Rights Watch
Hokkaido University Slavic Research Centre
International Crisis Group
International Helsinki Federation
Minorities at Risk Project
Minorities Rights Group International
Project on Ethnic Relations
World News Connection
