The Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan has ratified the UN Convention Against Torture (CAT) in 1995, but torture remains a “systematic practice” in the country according to a recent report [pdf]. As the UN anti-torture committee met to review Uzbekistan's implementation of the CAT, Steve Swerdlow (@steveswerdlow) tweeted live from Geneva.
Below are just some of Swerdlow's tweets, indicating that the Uzbekistani authorities prefer to deal with allegations of torture, forced sterilization of women, and use of ‘slave labor’ to harvest cotton primarily through yelling, screaming, and insulting experts:
Tweeting from Geneva: #Uzbekistan now being reviewed by UN Committee against Torture
— Steve Swerdlow (@steveswerdlow) October 29, 2013
Right out of the gate #Uzbek [government] delegation bites back at [committee] against #Torture, asserting (in a yell) that CAT is ignoring the facts
— Steve Swerdlow (@steveswerdlow) October 30, 2013
Head of #Uzbek [government]: “We don't care that European [Committee on Human Rights] has repeatedly found torture in #Uzb is systematic. We are an Asian country”
— Steve Swerdlow (@steveswerdlow) October 30, 2013
Torture is widely used in Uzbekistan, according to several recent reports. Screenshot from video “Massacre in Uzbekistan (Trailer)” uploaded on YouTube by Mulberry Media on July 13, 2012.
#Uzbekistan‘s primary “diplomat” to @UN Committee against #Torture is yelling, banging fists on the table, insulting individual experts.
— Steve Swerdlow (@steveswerdlow) October 30, 2013
Will #Uzbekistan answer the actual questions of the @UN Committee against Torture? My bet is probably not.
— Steve Swerdlow (@steveswerdlow) October 30, 2013
35 minutes & still not a single concrete answer by #Uzbek delegation to any specific questions on #torture
— Steve Swerdlow (@steveswerdlow) October 30, 2013
#Uzbek official to CAT experts: We have not found one single case of forced sterilization of women in the country.
— Steve Swerdlow (@steveswerdlow) October 30, 2013
CAT expert drawing attention to continued [reports] of forced & child labor in #Uzbek cotton harvest. @cottoncampaign
— Steve Swerdlow (@steveswerdlow) October 30, 2013
Cmte agnst Torture asks #Uzbekistan: Why don't you investigate allegations of torture? Answer: No political will to combat it.
— Steve Swerdlow (@steveswerdlow) October 30, 2013
Cmte agnst Torture to #Uzbek official: I haven't heard one word from you about the #Andijan massacre of 2005, which involved hundreds killed
— Steve Swerdlow (@steveswerdlow) October 30, 2013
Expert to #Uzbekistan: Your responses strain credulity. I'd like to see answers to our questions.
— Steve Swerdlow (@steveswerdlow) October 30, 2013
Expert to #Uzbek official: Whether u agree or not that torture is systematic, the fact is that numerous allegs continue to come to our attn
— Steve Swerdlow (@steveswerdlow) October 30, 2013
Expert to #Uzbekistan: Pls tell us abt 8 ppl who have allegedly died during 2013 #cotton harvest due to forced labor @cottoncampaign
— Steve Swerdlow (@steveswerdlow) October 30, 2013
Uzbekistan has also been accused of routinely using ‘slave labor’ to harvest cotton. “Cotton Pickers” by peretzp, September 20, 2009 (CC BY-SA 2.0).
Head of #Uzbekistan delegation again screaming and yelling at Committee against Torture experts.
— Steve Swerdlow (@steveswerdlow) October 30, 2013
#Uzb official categorically declares: “The issue of the #Andijan massacre of 2005 is closed for us. We will never return to this issue!”
— Steve Swerdlow (@steveswerdlow) October 30, 2013
#Uzbek official screaming at top of his lungs at internationally respected experts on torture-Good strategy to deflect from damning evidence
— Steve Swerdlow (@steveswerdlow) October 30, 2013
And so ends #Uzbekistan session at Cmte against Torture: A truly rare moment of accountability for #Uzbekistan‘s atrocious record on torture
— Steve Swerdlow (@steveswerdlow) October 30, 2013
