2006 Activities

Covering Central Asia and the southern Caucasus, the Central Eurasia Project helped raise awareness of the region and its issues among the public and policymakers through various policy and advocacy initiatives. CEP made grants to local and international NGOs, and acted as liaison for the Soros foundations in the region. In addition to advancing human rights work, CEP focused on three important goals: Promoting policies and initiatives that protect the rights and interests of labor migrants, enabling local and international activists to address human rights violations and other abuses associated with the region’s cotton economy, and insuring that international engagement with Turkmenistan is preconditioned on measurable improvements in human rights practices.

The following briefs describe some of the Central Eurasia Project activities and achievements in 2006.

Abuses in Central Asian Cotton Industry Prompt Scrutiny

The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), an OSI grantee, challenged the cotton industry’s environmental and human rights abuses by persuading European clothing retailers to not use Uzbek cotton, and publishing reports that helped maintain the EU’s suspension of commercial ties with Turkmenistan. Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and other major cotton growers in Central Asia have used child labor, exploited local farmers, and damaged the environment with water- and pesticide-intensive cotton monoculture. EJF cotton projects are part of an international campaign highlighting the links between human rights abuses and environmental destruction.

Report Examines U.S. Security Assistance in Uzbekistan

The Central Eurasia Project sought to bring human rights issues to new and influential audiences by funding a report by the RAND Corporation that examined U.S. security assistance to transition states, their respect for human rights, and their effectiveness as U.S. allies. The report called for a reexamination of security cooperation with Uzbekistan, where state security units receiving U.S. support also persecute dissidents and the regime’s political opponents.

Shadow Reports and Individual Complaints Draw UN Attention to Abuses in Turkmenistan

OSI-sponsored shadow reports to UN human rights treaty bodies and Individual Complaints to the Human Rights Committee resulted in the United Nations confronting Turkmenistan for the first time in detail over widespread human rights violations. The reports prompted the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child to express its concern about child labor in Turkmenistan’s cotton harvest, and provided the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women with documentation of pervasive gender discrimination in employment and politics.

Turkmen Dissident Wins PEN Award

A prominent Turkmen dissident novelist nominated by OSI’s Turkmenistan Project for the PEN Freedom to Write Award won the prize and was unexpectedly allowed by the repressive regime to travel to New York to receive it. Rahim Esenov, author of the banned novel The Crowned Wanderer,was recognized with the PEN award for describing an alternative version of Turkmenistan’s history. Esenov returned to Turkmenistan and suffered no serious reprisals or harassment.

Website Receives Honorable Mention for Election and Tulip Revolution Coverage

EurasiaNet, a daily news website supported by the Central Eurasia Project, was a specialty journalism finalist in the 2006 Online News Association (ONA) awards. The ONA honorable mention cited EurasiaNet’s coverage of Azerbaijan’s parliamentary elections in late 2005, and a report focusing on the civil society challenges faced by Kyrgyzstan a year after its “Tulip Revolution.” In addition, ONA recognized the site for its coverage of political and economic developments in Georgia. The ONA award capped a year of double-digit growth in EurasiaNet readership and the introduction of podcasting.

Revenue Watch Institute Launches

The Revenue Watch Institute (RWI) was officially launched in July 2006 with the generous financial support of the Open Society Institute, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Norwegian Government. The institute aims to improve democratic accountability in natural resource-rich countries by giving citizens information, training, and funding that will allow them to effectively monitor government revenues and expenditures on behalf of the public interest. RWI also seeks to advise governments on best practices in resource revenue management.

During its first year of operations, the institute secured new donors, reconstituted its governing and advisory boards, added staff, opened a dialogue with the International Accounting Standards Board and the financial risk rating agencies, and gained the support from key members of Congress for international and domestic Publish What You Pay legislation. The institute also launched new programs in Latin America and Africa, laid the groundwork for projects in Indonesia and the Middle East, and prepared the way for a substantial expansion of its grant making, advocacy, technical assistance and research work in 2007.

For more information, see the Revenue Watch Institute website.