According to the latest news, the Uzbek authorities have denied an accreditation to the representative of the human rights watchdog in Central Asia - Human Rights Watch (HRW) - Mira Ridman to carry out tasks of the HRW in the territory of Uzbekistan. Mira Ridman was supposed to replace her colleague Andrea Berg, who was the only representative of the Human Rights Watch in Uzbekistan. Andrea Berg had done a lot of work in Uzbekistan in terms of dealing with human rights issues. Berg was the only representative of the international organizations who was given permission to attended Umida Niyazova’s trial, where she did her best to make sure that all human rights were followed. Now, when Mira Ridman, who was to substitute Andrea Berg, is not given an accreditation, the Human Rights Watch cannot continue its work in the territory of Uzbekistan, as there will be no one to coordinate it. This tactic of the Uzbek authorities is very crafty, as they are not officially closing down the organization - they are just not giving an accredination to its only (!) representative. Though, the Human Rights Watch hopes that the Uzbek authorities will change their decision. Rachel Denber, Deputy Director of the Europe and Central Asia Division at Human Rights Watch, says to the Uzbek service of the Radio Liberty:

We hope that we will find a decision to the situation. We will call the Uzbek government to change their decision and give an accreditation to our representative. If the government of Uzbekistan does not want to listen to our calls, they must know that this way they cannot stop us from dealing with human rights issues in the country.

The EU also shows its worries about the situation. The EU Special Representative for Central Asia Mr. Pierre Morel shares with his opinions with the Uzbek service of the Radio Liberty.

I have tried to do all I can. Unfortnately, the Uzbek authorities does not seem to be in good mood to discuss the problem. I want to make all sure that this issue is on our daily agenda.

It seems that by this maneuver the Uzbek government shows that it does not want to recognize the HRW, the biggest organization that deals with human rights in the region, to carry out its tasks in the territory of Uzbekistan. The HRW had caused many troubles to the Uzbek authorities. They were one of the first organizations that raised the alarms when Andijan massacre happened and had been constantly accusing the government of Uzbekistan of violating the human rights.

The Uzbek government has closed many international organizations for the past several years. I hope that soon Uzbekistan will not become the second Turkmenistan under Niyazov – closed to the world, which is, by the way, becoming more open from day to day under the new president.