World Report 2011 - Human Rights Watch

WORLD REPORT 2011Freedom of ReligionAlthough Uzbekistan’s constitution ensures freedom of religion, Uzbek authoritiescontinued their unrelenting, multi-year campaign of arbitrary detention,arrest, and torture of Muslims who practice their faith outside state controls orbelong to unregistered religious organizations. Over 100 were arrested or convictedin 2010 on charges related to religious extremism.Continuing a trend that began in 2008, followers of the late Turkish Muslim theologianSaid Nursi were harassed and prosecuted for religious extremism, leadingto prison sentences or fines. Dozens of Nursi followers were arrested or imprisonedin 2010 in Bukhara, Ferghana, and Tashkent: at least 29 were convictedbetween May and August alone.Christians and members of other minority religions holding peaceful religiousactivities also faced short-term prison sentences and fines for administrativeoffenses such as violating the law on religious organizations and illegal religiousteaching. According to Forum 18, at least five members of Christian minoritygroups are serving long prison sentences, including Tohar Haydarov, a Baptistwho received a 10-year sentence in March 2010 for drug-related charges that hissupporters say were fabricated in retaliation for his religious activity.Authorities continue to extend sentences of religious prisoners for alleged violationsof prison regulations or on new criminal charges. Such extensions occurwithout due process and can add years to a prisoner’s sentence.Child LaborForced child labor in cotton fields remains a serious concern. The governmenttook no meaningful steps to implement the two International Labour Organization(ILO) conventions on child labor, which Uzbekistan ratified in March 2008.The government continues to force hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren,some of them as young as ten, to help with the cotton harvest for two months ayear. They live in filthy conditions, contract illnesses, miss school, and work dailyfrom early morning until evening for little or no money. Hunger, exhaustion, andheat stroke are common.500