Country: Uzbekistan

C i t a t i o n :

 “The struggle for peace begins with the struggle for spiritual peace and tranquility within people. This is only possible when observance of human rights and freedom for everyone is provided.”

W o r k   c o n t e x t :

Uzbekistan s transition to democracy has been difficult. The old Soviet system has left its mark on local authorities. The Constitution is widely ignored, rights and freedoms are abused and corruption is rampant.

B i o g r a p h y :

Mutabar Tadjibayeva is a well-known defender of human rights. Born in 1962, she is the head of the legal defense organization and editor of Ut Yuraklar (Fiery Heart) in the Ferghana Valley, Uzbekistan.

She founded the organization in 2000 in order to represent and fight for the rights of rural citizens, supporting them in their fight for justice while also organizing nonviolent protests and resistance against illegal state activity.

Mutabar considers her primary mission in life to raise rights awareness among her fellow citizens.

When Mutabar  was invited to take up the post of Deputy Chairman of Ferghana s regional department of the Red Crescent, she became a witness to the shameless embezzlement of humanitarian aid intended for poor families, disabled children and orphans. When she highlighted and initiated a fight against this crime, the leadership of Red Crescent concocted the charge of stealing society stamps against her.

Having proved her innocence, Mutabar realized that it was very hard to defend justice alone and that it was necessary to unite people in the defense of their rights in the struggle against corruption and despotism. It was obvious, that it was necessary to fight for people s rights on a larger, legislative scale, Mutabar says. This experience gave rise to the idea for the foundation of the Fiery Heart organization.

Officially Mutabar Tadjibayeva s organization has defended the rights of up to 49,000 people; unofficially the number is far greater. The purpose of the organization is two fold: defending human rights and raising awareness of rights among citizens.

In December 2002, an attempt was made to arrest Mutabar because of a letter she had written to the official powers about her intention to organize a demonstration to highlight human rights abuses. The civil protest was to coincide with the Day of the Constitution of the Republic (8 December) and was to have been held just beside the Uzbek Parliament. On 4 December, she received a letter from the prosecutor’s office in Ferghana, stating that her organization was unregistered and that she could be prosecuted for her activities.

A militia squad was dispatched to her home to take her into custody. Avoiding arrest, Mutabar went into hiding in Durmon village. The militia, aware that she had sought sanctuary in Durmon, surrounded the village and carried out houseto-house searches in order to try and find her. The villagers were intimidated and threatened with arrest should a foreign agent, as she was called, be found in any of their homes. The Service for National Safety (SNS) carried out the search.

Although Mutabar s work is dogged by this type of state intimidation but she still believes that people are capable of influencing their governments and even capable of preventing wars. People with poor legal awareness cannot resist the initiatives of their governments to begin wars, that is why they suffer. Under conditions of war, there is no place for human rights. People deprived of legal knowledge turn into puppets in the hands of their own governments and therefore encourage abuse of the rights of others, even against their fellow citizens.

In 2003-2004, Mutabar tried on three separate occasions to contact the President of Uzbekistan, requesting he listen to her concerns. She wanted to demonstrate that the people around him not only created obstacles to building civil society in the country, but also periodically infringe the laws of the Republic. Her appeals went unheeded.

In April 2004, Namangan s regional department s Service of National Safety (SNS) illegally confiscated 30 Ford minivans, putting them up for auction. From April to December 2004, the owners of the confiscated minivans tried to get their property back through the Uzbek justice system. However, they did not manage to do this. On December 2004, the owners of the minivans wrote to Mutabar having realized that recourse through the state courts was futile.

Mutabar decided to organize mass protests of nonviolent resistance. On 19 December 2004 the members of her organization, the owners of the minivans and their relatives blocked the Namangan-Ferghana motorway and demanded the return of the confiscated property. For one hour the leadership of Namangan s SNS considered the demands and then promptly decided to return the vehicles to their owners.

In February 2004, when local authorities in Ferghana forced schoolchildren to perform rural work, bringing local fertilizers to cotton fields, members of Fiery Heart who worked as teachers at the schools, declared a boycott of this most Heart who worked as teachers at the schools, declared a boycott of this most suspect of orders by the local authorities. In response to the campaign, local authorities cancelled the illegal order.

In the fall of 2004, Mutabar s organization arranged mass protests against the use of schoolchildren in cotton harvesting in the Ferghana region. On 14 October 2004, Mutabar initiated an open appeal to the world community, such as the World Stock Exchanges, who traded cotton, with a demand to declare a boycott on purchases of Uzbek cotton gathered by means of using child labor.

Some 18 Uzbek legal defense groups supported this initiative. After this campaign, visits to Uzbekistan by foreign journalists increased. They arrived to prepare reports on the use of child labor in Uzbekistan. On 8 November 2004, the authorities of the country, frightened by the open appeal and by the visiting foreign correspondents, gave the order to stop child mobilization for cotton gathering and called all the children back to school.

On 12 December, Mutabar was informed that the militia intended to take her eighteen-year-old daughter, Makhliyo, as a hostage. She left Durmon village during daylight, having disguised herself as an old woman, even going as far as leaning on a stick to feign old age. On her way out of the village she passed a group of militiamen.

Having escaped from the village, she called Ferghana s regional militia chief informing him, Don t be proud of you militia servicemen, who are unable even to catch an old defenseless woman. Leave the village citizens in peace and stop searching their houses. I will come to you myself. Within an hour she arrived at the offices of the militia chief. Those whom Mutabar had helped did not allow her to be arrested. They stood shoulder-toshoulder, side-by-side and defended her.

Mutabar Tadjibayeva considers war the greatest evil in the world. Legal awareness and even our people s mentality have to increase to such an extent that they are able to restrain their governments from getting involved in wars on their behalf. Wars are initiated not by the people, but by their governors. I think that the basic achievement of our organization is the fact that we have increased awareness among the people. Those people, who only yesterday wrote for help, are today defending not just their rights, but the rights of the others.

Mutabar works hard and rarely manages to find time to rest. As a rule, I work till late at night and I always dream of sleeping more but by six or seven in the morning I am usually woken up by the doorbell, as the organization s office is in my apartment! Her work continues till late at night. What with meetings and conversations with visitors, listening to their complaints, then running off to the courts investigating, either as a defendant or a confidential agent, the day seems endless.

Even at weekends and holidays two or three similar visits occur. Generally, I have no holidays, as the situation concerning human rights here does not respect the holidays. When I get back home, there is always someone waiting for me at my house. During a snack, I start receiving visitors, which continues till ten in the evening. After this I sit at the computer writing claims, appeals and different applications.

As a result of her tireless campaigning, Mutabar has been subjected to arrest, torture, insults and beating. However, she has never betrayed her main principle: nonviolent resistance to the endemic corruption and injustice. She continuously stands by this principle and has achieved more than those who call for violence as a response to the country s problems.

Mutabar Tadjibayeva has even won the respect of the local militia and authorities. We managed to find a common dialogue with these powers and in turn, they began to listen to our demands, trying to rectify their mistakes, as they understand that we are fighting for justice, Mutabar says.

The militia chief who arrested me two years ago, the very same man who beat me and insulted me, now calls on me, asking for advice and on the International Women s Day, he even sent flowers to all the women in our organization. Mutabar considers this as a victory of her nonviolent resistance.

Mutabar s relies upon the support of other legal defenders, international organizations, and the local and foreign mass media. As soon as I am notified about any abuse of people s rights, I pass on this information to other legal defense organizations and journalists. I consider that a legal defendant must work together with journalists and international organizations, to be united with other legal defenders, as solidarity is our strength. I am a person devoted to the fight for human rights. If a person s rights have been infringed then it is my problem. I cannot stand aside when someone s rights are ignored or denied. And I will not be stopped, not even by the threat of death.

Author: Liliya Kuzmina

Employer: independent journalist

Country: Uzbekistan

Email: smon19@rambler.ru

30.04.2004