Uzbekistan's President visits Brussels

Yesterday Uzbekistan’s President Karimov was welcomed by the European Commission President José Manuel Barroso to Brussels, amid strong condemnation from NGOs on Uzbekistan’s human rights record.

The EU is keen to strengthen relations with Uzbekistan and an agreement was signed to establish an EU Delegation office in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

However President Barroso did raise human rights concerns and urged the President Karimov to allow an International Labour Organization monitoring mission to the country to address child labour. Anti-Slavery has called on the Government of Uzbekistan to accept this mission but they rejected the ILO’s recommendation late last year.

Karimov's visit drew a protest outside the European Commission headquarters yesterday, where several prominent Uzbek human rights defenders spoke up about the situation in their country.
 

Has the EU invited Uzbekistan's President to Brussels?

Anti-Slavery International has received reports, including from Eurasianet.org, that Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov has been invited to Brussels to meet with the Council of the European Union at the end of this month.

The Paris-based Association for Human Rights in Central Asia (Asie Centrale), a group of emigres from Uzbekistan, distributed a press release January 10 citing "reliable sources" that Karimov's visit to Brussels is planned for January 31 - the day after his 73rd birthday.

The European Union raised concerns last year with the government about the use of state-sponsored forced child labour in the cotton industry last year. This invite would not be consistent with this message that this practice is abhorrent and should be immediately abolished, a practice which the President has the power to end.