Call for Central Asia to be a death penalty-free zone

Almaty, Vienna, 12 June -- The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) and undersigned NGOs call upon the authorities of the four Central Asian countries that still retain the death penalty (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) to abolish this penalty for all crimes as soon as possible in order to make Central Asia a death penalty-free zone.

During the launch of the IHF’s Annual Report in Almaty, its Executive Director, Aaron Rhodes, urged the above-mentioned governments to double their commitment to abolish the death penalty as a matter of utmost urgency. “Although the moratoria in place in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan is a positive development and a move in the right direction, there is a risk that efforts to abolish the death penalty will stall due to the existence of these moratoria.”

In Uzbekistan, the situation is of more concern, albeit a presidential decree signed in 2005 committing to the abolition of the death penalty as of 1 January 2008. With the appalling human rights record of the Uzbek government and no moratorium in place, the number of persons being sentenced to death penalty and being executed is feared to be high. The lack of any official statistics or information relating to the death penalty is an aggravating factor. 

In this vein, Uzbek human rights activists recently called for an immediate moratorium, to be established as a logical step to the abolition in 2008. They are also seeking that the government release information relating to death penalty sentences and executions, and in particular the date of the execution and place of burial as currently this information is not made public, even to the families of the deceased. 

Other seminars, organized in the context of the IHF project “A Coordinated Civil Society Campaign to Abolish the Death Penalty in Central Asian States,” have taken place in the region recently.

Kazakh rights activists meeting in May in Almaty reaffirmed their commitment to work with the authorities, media and civil society for the ratification of the United Nations Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which calls for the abolition of the death penalty. Activists also urged the government to take immediate measures transforming all death sentences into different prison terms, especially considering that in Kazakhstan there are still prisoners on death row.  

In Kyrgyzstan activists expressed their interest in seeing the abolition of the death penalty included in the package of constitutional reforms. Although there is a moratorium in place, death sentences can still be pronounced (yet not implemented). The unofficial number of prisoners on death row is in the hundreds and the continuous uncertainty which they face is only compounded by the harsh prison conditions in which they live.

Like their Uzbek counterparts, Kyrgyz authorities do not inform the families of the deceased where these have been buried. Human rights organizations urge the authorities to commute all death sentences into prison ones, as well as to ensure that all related matters (presidential pardons, special conditions for death row prisoners, executions, if any) are dealt with in a transparent and open manner.

A meeting with Tajik human rights activists to galvanize support amongst civil society for the abolition of the death penalty in Tajikistan will be held in Dushanbe in July.

The IHF and undersigned NGOs reiterate their belief that governments should lead public opinion in matters of human rights and criminal policy and thus appeal to the governments of

these countries to fully abolish the death penalty as a matter of urgency. We urge the Presidents to exercise political leadership on this issue and to do all within their remit to make Central Asia a death penalty-free area.

Bureau for human rights and rule of law (Tajikistan)

Mothers against torture and death penalty (Uzbekistan)

Human rights society of Uzbekistan (Uzbekistan)

Citizens against corruption (Kyrgyzstan)

Kyrgyz committee for human rights (Kyrgyzstan)

Rehabilitation center BATYJA

Committee for human rights (Kyrgyzstan)