AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2016/17

esidents and their families and took punitive
action against them.
In February, mahalla members informed
the wife of Aramais Avakian that local
residents had decided to expel her and her
children from their neighbourhood because
of the “actions of her terrorist husband” and
because she had given interviews to foreign
journalists, slandered local officials and
brought Uzbekistan into disrepute.
FORCED LABOUR
Forced labour was used in the cotton
industry. International organizations
estimated that the authorities compelled over
a million public sector employees to work in
the cotton fields, in the preparation of the
fields in spring and the harvest in the
autumn. Uzbekistan was the world’s second
biggest user of modern-day slavery according
to the 2016 Global Slavery Index.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION –
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
The rights to freedom of expression and
association remained severely restricted.
Activists who attempted to document the
use of forced labour in the cotton fields were
repeatedly detained and searched.
On 8 October, police and NSS officers
detained the head of the independent NGO
Human Rights Defenders’ Alliance of
Uzbekistan, Elena Urlaeva, and independent
photographer Timur Karpov as well as two
French activists in Buk District of Tashkent
Region. They were interviewing medical staff
and teachers sent to work in the cotton fields.
Elena Urlaeva reported that she was escorted
to an interrogation room in Buk police station
by a group of women, two of whom pulled
her by her hair, punched and verbally
insulted her. Police officers did not stop them
but instead threatened Elena Urlaeva and
refused to call medical assistance for her.
They released her without charges after six
hours. Timur Karpov was detained for 10
hours and threatened. Their recording
equipment and documentation materials
were confiscated.
1. Uzbekistan: Fast-track to torture − abductions and forcible returns
from Russia to Uzbekistan (EUR 62/3740/2016)
VENEZUELA
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
Head of state and government: Nicolás Maduro Moros
The government declared a state of
emergency which was renewed four times.
Most of those suspected of responsibility for
crimes under international law and for
human rights violations during the 2014
protests had yet to be brought to justice.
Prison overcrowding and violence
continued. Survivors of gender-based
violence faced significant obstacles in
accessing justice. Human rights defenders
and journalists frequently faced campaigns
to discredit them, as well as attacks and
intimidation. Political opponents and critics
of the government continued to face
imprisonment. There were reports of
excessive use of force by the police and
security forces.
BACKGROUND
On 15 January, President Maduro declared a
state of general emergency and economic
emergency which lasted the year. The
declaration established provisions which
could restrict the work of civil society and
NGOs, including by allowing the authorities to
audit signed agreements between national
organizations and legal entities with
companies or institutions based abroad.
The authorities failed to report on the
results of the implementation of the National
Human Rights Plan, which had been
approved in 2015.
Most of the judgments and orders passed
on Venezuela by the Inter-American Court of
Human Rights had yet to be complied with
by the end of the year.
Food and medicine shortages intensified
dramatically, provoking protests throughout
the country. In July, the executive announced
a new mandatory temporary work regime
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