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COVID-19: Watchdog Says Central Asian Governments Failing To Respect Rights

The global death toll from the coronavirus is more than 184,000 with more than 2.6 million infections confirmed, causing mass disruptions as governments continue to try to slow the spread of the new respiratory illness.

Here’s a roundup of COVID-19 developments in RFE/RL’s broadcast regions.

Central Asia

Human Rights Watch (HRW) says governments in Central Asia are failing to respect the rights of their citizens in their responses to the coronavirus pandemic.

The rights group said in a statement on April 23 that while officials in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan have taken “important steps” to limit the spread of the outbreak, they have also used the restrictions put in place to target journalists, health-care providers, and activists, and have carried out quarantine measures in ways that have at times proven “arbitrary and disproportionate.”

“All Central Asian governments have obligations to protect their citizens’ right to health by providing accurate information about COVID-19,” said Hugh Williamson, HRW Europe and Central Asia director.

“Human rights should be respected while the emergency measures are in place, and during any future responses to the virus…. They should not use restrictions to muzzle journalists, health-care providers, and others attempting to inform the public or protect against rights violations,” he added.

HRW said that authorities in Turkmenistan, which along with Tajikistan has yet to acknowledge the existence of COVID-19 cases in their countries, “have sought to silence medical workers and others speaking out about the impact of the virus in the country.”

The statement notes that the situation in Tajikistan has reached a point where RFE/RL President Jamie Fly sent a letter to Tajik authorities chiding the Health Ministry and other agencies for refusing to answer questions regarding the spread of COVID-19.

“By failing to deliver information about COVID-19 and repressing information about it, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan are gravely endangering their citizens’ health,” the HRW statement said.

By April 23, the largest number of registered coronavirus cases in the region was in Kazakhstan, with 2,207 confirmed positive tests and 20 deaths.

In Uzbekistan, the latest number of coronavirus cases reported by the authorities was 1,716, including seven deaths.

In Kyrgyzstan, there were 631 cases recorded, including eight deaths, as of April 23.

Uzbekistan

A new 10,000-bed infectious-diseases hospital is being built near Uzbekistan’s capital, Tashkent, to help tackle the coronavirus pandemic in the Central Asian nation of 32 million.

A project contractor, Enter Engineering, said on April 22 that the medical facility’s first phase in the Zangiota district will be officially opened in early May.

“The facility is designed both to treat virus-infected residents and to house Uzbek citizens returning home from abroad who require quarantine,” Shohrukh Sattarov, CEO of Enter Engineering said.

According to the contractor, the remainder of the complex will be completed within a month after the initial opening.

Uzbek health authorities said in late March that they had started building the hospital, following the example of the authorities of the Chinese city of Wuhan, who earlier this year constructed the Huoshenshan Hospital to handle coronavirus patients in less than two weeks.

Enter Engineering is working on the state-commissioned project together with the state railway company.

As of April 23, the number of coronavirus cases in Uzbekistan was 1,716, including seven deaths.

Iran

In Iran, one of the countries worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic, authorities have closed mosques and shrines believed to have contributed to the initial spread of the virus.

President Hassan Rohani said some sites may open on May 4. But Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has already suggested that mass gatherings may be barred throughout Ramadan over the virus.

Iran has reported almost 86,000 infections and up to 5,400 deaths, but critics say the actual numbers could be considerably higher since the information flow is strictly controlled by the authoritarian regime and foreign media access has been all but banned.

With reporting by RFE/RL’s Kazakh, Uzbek, and Kyrgyz services, Reuters, Oil&Gas.com, Kun.uz, and Gazeta.uz
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