On September 30th, Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights organized an action in front of the Uzbek Embassy in Berlin. The main goal was to attract attention to human rights abuses and grievances in Uzbekistan.
Activists were holding posters describing specific cases and the reality of millions of Uzbek people:
– I am an Uzbek teacher. Today I have to pick cotton. There are over four million teachers facing the same fate.
– I am a migrant worker. I am forced to look for a job far away from home. Every fifth Uzbek citizen lives aboard as a migrant worker.
– I am an Uzbek artist Vyacheslav Akhunov. I am not allowed to leave the country. Due to exit visa regulation, Uzbekistan became a “huge prison”
– I am a political prisoner Muhammad Bekzhanov. I was tortured. Torture is widely used in Uzbekistan.
– I am an Uzbek student. Instead of studying, I am forced to harvest cotton.
– I am President’s daughter Gulnara Karimova. I am currently under house arrest. President’s family is the most corrupted in the country.
– I am President’s nephew Jamshid Karimov. I am held in a psychiatric clinic. Psychiatry also became a penitentiary facility.
– I am an Uzbek farmer. I am forced to grow cotton. If I work badly, civil servants will beat me.
– I am a journalist Solijon Abdurahmonov and I am imprisoned. There is no freedom of the press in Uzbekistan