Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe Centre in Bishkek

Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe Centre in Bishkek - Spot Report no. 17/05

Kyrgyz President indicates some of the Uzbek asylum seekers could be extradited to Uzbekistan

On 25 July, Kurmanbek Bakiev, President of the Kyrgyz Republic, speaking at a conference of the People’s Democratic Movement in Bishkek, commented on the situation with the Uzbek asylum seekers in the south of the country. “The issue of refugees should be solved in the trilateral format - Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and UN High Commissioner for Refugees,” – he said. “Nevertheless, we should reckon with our neighbour - Uzbekistan,” he added. He also noted that among the more than 400 Uzbeks who had sought refugee status in Kyrgyzstan after the Andijan events in May there were 12 persons who had committed crimes in Uzbekistan. In this regard, Bakiev underlined, “My position is that criminals must be in prison. Now, the Prosecutor’s Offices of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are studying documents of 12 citizens of Uzbekistan”.

According to the Migration Service Department under the Kyrgyz Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as of 20 July 2005, the situation concerning the Uzbek asylum seekers is the following:

- the total number of the Uzbek asylum seekers is 465. 20 of them are children;
29 of them are still kept in Osh SIZO (pre-trial detention facility), the others are located in a refugee camp;
- the Migration Service Department, with the participation of the UNHCR lawyers, has already interviewed 410 asylum seekers, including those 29 kept in Osh SIZO, with the purpose of granting refugee status. The remaining 35 people will be interviewed in the nearest future;
- all the people who have been interviewed refused to return to Uzbekistan;
- following requests of the Uzbek authorities to deport some asylum seekers for allegedly committing crimes, the Kyrgyz Prosecutor General’s Office applied to the Migration Service Department for permission to transfer another 167 asylum seekers from the camp to Osh SIZO, to conduct "the necessary investigation activities". The Department rejected the request because of the lack of space and necessary facilities in Osh SIZO. In this regard, the Migration Service Department proposed to hold these activities in the camp and expressed its readiness to provide three tents for this purpose;
- the local population of Jalal Abad Province does no longer have a negative attitude towards the Uzbek asylum seekers living in the camp.