{"id":24589,"date":"2022-01-22T22:44:16","date_gmt":"2022-01-22T19:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/?p=24589"},"modified":"2022-01-26T14:35:14","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T11:35:14","slug":"minorities-at-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/articles\/minorities-at-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"Minorities at Risk"},"content":{"rendered":"

The events in Kazakhstan have put activists from protest movements, independent journalists, and human rights defenders at risk. Naturally, their situation is concerning and has become the main focus of international organizations and the media. But the voices of those troubled by the situation of ethnic minorities in Central Asia are not resonating as strongly. These groups are particularly vulnerable, since they can easily become hostage to a complicated political situation. After all, there have been occasional attempts to accuse national minorities of every misfortune. Now that troops from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) countries have been drafted to protect the authorities in Kazakhstan and senior politicians have spoken about their intentions to continue \u201cto fight threats together,\u201d the risks for some ethnic groups have increased dramatically.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Tajik expert Parviz Mullojanov writes<\/a> <\/span><\/span><\/span>about this with concern: <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe entry of CSTO troops into Kazakhstan creates a precedent that makes it much easier for member countries to take a similar kind of decision. As a consequence, in the future those Tokayevs, Lukashenkos, and the rest of them can take advantage of this precedent to deal with challenges both from without and from within. It will be enough to connect opposition groups speaking out against them with some outside factors or threats, for example, on the part of Islamic radicals.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mullojanov writes accurately about the extremely tense situation in Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast, Tajikistan (GBAO), where internet and mobile communications have been turned off since November, major protests have been held, and demonstrators have been shot by the police. The Pamiris are now waiting for an investigation into the events of late 2021 and fear new strong-arm operations.\u00a0In\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>a communication<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0to UN structures, ADC Memorial noted that \u201cGBAO residents are in a state of constant tension: They fear for themselves and their family members, are afraid to leave the house or let their children out, and are not able to let their relatives abroad know how they are.\u201d In recent years, a great many Pamiris have become migrant workers and are living in Russia and other countries. The lack of communication with their family members at home is a real tragedy during such a dangerous time for GBAO residents. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

During a virtual meeting of representatives of CSTO countries about Kazakhstan,\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>proposals were made concerning Tajikistan<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>. The first to mention this was Aleksandr Lukashenko: \u201cFor years, the president of Tajikistan has been asking us for material support, primarily military equipment, and we need to do this so that it doesn\u2019t end up costing us more later, like it did with Kazakhstan…. We need to promptly expose the forces that…are capable of crossing a red line and crack down on their destructive activities.\u201d The Tajik president supported him: \u201cThe situation on the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border is becoming increasingly complicated every day…. So we need to create a \u2018buffer zone\u2019 around Afghanistan.\u201d It\u2019s not surprising that the Pamiris living on this border are alarmed by plans to \u201ccrack down on\u201d protests.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Human rights defenders are also concerned about the impact the crisis in Kazakhstan will have on the border regions of Uzbekistan.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>There have been reports about arrests in Karakalpakstan<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>:\u00a0\u201cTen men and two women suspected of \u2018extremism\u2019 were detained in Nukus for expressing solidarity with the people of Kazakhstan. Uzbek authorities fear that the events in Kazakhstan, where many Karakalpaks migrate for work and a large diaspora is present, could impact internal stability.\u201d In 2021, Karakalpak activists made demands concerning the protection of their cultural and socioeconomic rights, prompting a harsh reaction from the authorities. The Russian media\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>reported on this problem in its own unique way<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>: \u201cThe idea of forming a \u2018national liberation\u2019 movement was most likely brought in from outside to undermine this republic, which is successful in comparison to many other post-Soviet states… Creating yet another \u2018hotspot\u2019 on the territory of the former Soviet Union is entirely realistic: old mines plus fuses.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Rosbalt journalist, Irina Dzhorbenadze, does not explain where she got the suspicion that the idea was \u201cbrought in from outside\u201d or who exactly set the goal of \u201cundermining this republic.\u201d All this vague rhetoric and hints at \u201cold mines\u201d (should this be understood as discrimination against the Karakalpak in Uzbekistan?) resembles the latest statements by politicians about secret \u201csleeper cells\u201d and \u201coutside threats.\u201d Karakalpak activists have long complained of harassment in their own \u201csovereign republic\u201d (this is the status assigned to Karakalpakstan under the Constitution of Uzbekistan),\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>say that<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0local lands are being allocated to farmers from other regions of Uzbekistan and that \u201cland and work are given on the basis of ethnicity,\u201d which means that the Karakalpak cannot find jobs or obtain permission to open businesses. The close ties many Karakalpak families have with Kazakhstan may give the Uzbek authorities the reason they need for a new round of repressions.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In Kazakhstan itself, some minorities have experienced not just discrimination, but also actual pogroms.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

ADC Memorial has\u00a0repeatedly\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>written<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0about the events in Korday District, where pogromists burned down Dungan houses, attacked and killed people, and destroyed property one night in February 2020. The recent events in Kazakhstan\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>have forced<\/a> members of the Dungan community to recall their own tragedy: \u201cIf these thousands of criminals, their patrons, and the organizers of the Dungan pogroms had been punished, then the tragedy that happened in Kazakhstan in January could possibly have been avoided.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

An attorney\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>for the affected Dungan families noted<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> that \u201cunknown, but very influential forces organized and directed the mass unrest in the villages of Masanchi, Bular batyr, and Aukhatty… A number of the facts that \u2018surfaced\u2019 later during the court proceedings in the criminal case on the mass unrest are evidence that the people involved in organizing the unrest were highly-placed and that forces behind them were influential. These forces could have even influenced the investigation group led by the Prosecutor General\u2019s Office and comprised of investigators from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Security Committee and staff members from offices of the Prosecutor General\u2019s Office. They influenced not just these bodies, but in all likelihood the court as well… By illegally charging representatives of the Dungan people, who assumed the role of police officers and heroically risked their lives and health to defend their villages, families, and property from the attackers, they shifted responsibility for failures in their work onto these people.\u201d This attorney called for \u201ca review of the unjust court verdicts against members of the Dungan ethnicity who rallied to defend their villages on February 7 and 8, 2020.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

How will events develop in Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries? Will the crisis in Kazakhstan open up new opportunities for solving old problems, as the Dungan and their supporters hope? Or will it create additional threats, as the Pamiris and Karakalpak fear? Whatever the case, as we follow the events in Kazakhstan, it\u2019s important not to forget about the ethnic minorities, about those who have the hardest time protecting their rights. This is especially true for peoples who do not have their own separate federal status, like the Uighurs, the Dungan, the Pamiris, and the Karakalpak.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Stephania KULAEVA<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

First published on\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>Radio Liberty\u2019s blog<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The events in Kazakhstan have put activists from protest movements, independent journalists, and human rights defenders at risk. Naturally, their situation is concerning and has become the main focus of international organizations and the media. But the voices of those…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":24585,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[215],"strategy_cases":[],"campaign":[],"archive":[],"filter-content":[],"regions":[443,158,543],"class_list":["post-24589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-minorities-rights-en","regions-kazakhstan","regions-tajikistan","regions-uzbekistan-en-2"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls_v2":{"full":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0.jpg",899,608,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0-125x125.jpg",125,125,true],"medium":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0-300x203.jpg",300,203,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0-768x519.jpg",640,433,true],"large":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0-650x440.jpg",640,433,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0.jpg",899,608,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0.jpg",899,608,false],"pub-thumb":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0-220x149.jpg",220,149,true],"post-thumb":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0-170x170.jpg",170,170,true],"wcicon":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0-48x48.jpg",48,48,true],"wcsquare":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"wcsmall":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0-250x169.jpg",250,169,true],"wcstandard":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0-550x372.jpg",550,372,true],"wcbig":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0-800x541.jpg",800,541,true],"wcfixedheightsmall":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0-266x180.jpg",266,180,true],"wcfixedheightmedium":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0-444x300.jpg",444,300,true],"wcfixedheight":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0-739x500.jpg",739,500,true],"wccarouselsmall":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0-210x150.jpg",210,150,true],"wccarousel":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0-400x285.jpg",400,285,true],"wcslider":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0-899x500.jpg",899,500,true]},"post_excerpt_stackable_v2":"

The events in Kazakhstan have put activists from protest movements, independent journalists, and human rights defenders at risk. Naturally, their situation is concerning and has become the main focus of international organizations and the media. But the voices of those troubled by the situation of ethnic minorities in Central Asia are not resonating as strongly. These groups are particularly vulnerable, since they can easily become hostage to a complicated political situation. After all, there have been occasional attempts to accuse national minorities of every misfortune. Now that troops from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) countries have been drafted to…<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"Articles<\/a>","author_info_v2":{"name":"admin3","url":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/author\/admin3\/"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24589"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24592,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24589\/revisions\/24592"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24589"},{"taxonomy":"strategy_cases","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/strategy_cases?post=24589"},{"taxonomy":"campaign","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campaign?post=24589"},{"taxonomy":"archive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/archive?post=24589"},{"taxonomy":"filter-content","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/filter-content?post=24589"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=24589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}