EU and Central Asia

European Union policies toward the countries of Central Asia are often dominated by geostrategic questions and fears over energy insecurity. The Open Society Institute–Brussels works within the EU to ensure that this approach comes not at the expense of addressing the broad range of human rights abuses that plague the largely authoritarian and closed societies of this region.

OSI-Brussels has called for a values-based EU Strategy for Central Asia with human rights, revenue transparency, and education at its core. It now supports the monitoring of the Strategy through EUCAM, a joint project of the Centre for European Policy Studies and Fundación para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior. The EUCAM network of Central Asian and European scholars convenes regularly on EU-Central Asia relations both in the region and within the EU, and produces publications on the subject.

OSI-Brussels regularly participates in NGO briefings for bilateral human rights dialogues and seeks to ensure local civil society input into these processes. On bilateral issues, we urge the EU to take a principled position when dealing with countries in the region where human rights abuses are grievous and systemic. On Uzbekistan we have hosted roundtable discussions on prisoners of conscience, brought human rights activists to Brussels to talk about the issue of forced child labor in Uzbekistan, and cosigned with other NGOs a statement on the situation of media freedom in the country.

We have also urged the EU not squander precious leverage when engaging with Turkmenistan through calling for basic human rights benchmarks set by the European Parliament.

Contact at OSI-Brussels: Jacqueline Hale

For more information on OSI activities in the region, see the Central Asia webpage.