Shanghai Cooperation Organization seeks to strengthen anti-terrorism component

1/08/02

Foreign ministers attending a January 7 meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) members agreed on measures to improve the group's anti-terrorism and security capabilities. The moves are designed to establish the organization – which includes China, Russia and four Central Asian states – as the region's key player on security issues.

The SCO had previously concentrated mainly on promoting regional trade. Its lack of a security component caused it to fade from view in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks and the subsequent US-led anti-terrorism campaign in Afghanistan. The entry of US forces into Central Asia even caused some regional analysts to question the SCO's viability.

The SCO foreign ministers, meeting in Beijing, announced that work would begin on the formation of a regional anti-terrorism organization, and a coordinated emergency response mechanism. Such moves would enable the SCO to rapidly intervene in a Central Asian crisis. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov suggested the SCO should assume responsibility for guaranteeing regional security, indicating that regional powers – specifically China and Russia – are eager to diminish the United States' growing profile in the area.

A joint statement by the foreign ministers said regional and sub-regional structures were best suited to fighting terrorism. According to the Kazakhstan Today web site, the SCO security and anti-terrorism components should be established and formally ratified in time for a SCO summit scheduled to be held in June in St. Petersburg.

Prior to the meeting, Human Rights Watch issued a statement urging SCO members to respect basic individual liberties – especially freedom of speech and of religious worship – as they pondered their collective response to terrorist threats.

Human Rights Watch has cited recent developments, particularly in Uzbekistan, which joined the SCO in June 2001, as cause for concern that regional efforts to bolster security are eroding basic rights and democratic norms. In Uzbekistan, President Islam Karimov has continued a campaign to stifle freedom of expression and religious worship, and has taken steps to extend his presidential term indefinitely. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Meanwhile, China has intensified its pursuit of Uighur separatists.

Kyrgyzstan's leader, Askar Akayev, has also moved against his political opponents. Kyrgyz legislators on January 7 called on president Askar Akayev to release lawmaker Azimbek Beknazarov, who was jailed January 5 for alleged abuse of power. Beknazarov asserts his detention is related to his criticism of border deals involving Kyrgyzstan, China and Kazakhstan.

In the open letter posted on its web site, Human Rights Watch called on the foreign ministers to abhor repression as a matter of "efficacy" as well as fairness. Noting that the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe had taken care to promote tolerance in recent pronouncements, the open letter urged ministers to come clean about past misdeeds.

Uzbekistan's "campaign against independent Islam" and Russia's authorization of the killing of Chechen civilians, the letter implied, were not necessarily credible as antiterrorist tools. The letter also suggested that a human rights expert should join the staff of a planned anti-terrorism center in Bishkek.

Foreign ministers are unlikely to respond directly to the recommendations, according to Human Rights Watch's Mickey Spiegel. They already have acknowledged the letter's concern. In a statement released on January 7 by China's Xinhua news agency, the SCO ministers declared that "terrorism does not limit itself to specific ethnic groups and religions, and the fight against terrorism should be separated from opposition to any religion, freedom of worship or country and nationality."

Beyond a desire to court international public opinion, however, there are few incentives for SCO members to improve the human rights climate in their respective nations. All six states – China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – remain concerned about Islamic radicalism and appear inclined to embrace any measure that reduces this threat. In addition, the United States has not been vigilant about condemning human rights violations since September 11.

Posted January 8, 2002 © Eurasianet