The EU has decided not to send a delegation to Uzbekistan in protest at the country's recent decision to shut down the office of New York-based Human Rights Watch in Tashkent.
Michael Mann, spokesman for the EU Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, said that the EU had decided not to send EU delegation to Uzbekistan and that there was no-one there now.
The decision to set up an EU delegation in Tashkent was taken during Uzbek President Islam Karimovs visit to Brussels this January and his meeting with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
Barroso and Karimov discussed the release of human rights activists Agzam Farmonov, Norboy Holjigitov and Isroiljon Holdorov and accreditation for representatives of Human Rights Watch. Karimov also agreed to allow representatives of the International Labour Organisation into the country to monitor the use of child labour in the cotton industry.
Two months on from the meeting, the human rights activists are still in prison, while Human Rights Watch has been forced to close down its office in Tashkent.
Michael Mann said that dialogue regarding human rights would continue with Uzbekistan and that the EU would be pressuring Tashkent to change its decision on Human Rights Watch.
Reported by The Times of Central Asia
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