Actions by Christians against Torture, a human rights organization based in France, conducted a prize presentation ceremony on 15 November 2014 in Paris to give its prestigious award to Mutabar Tadjibayeva, the head of “Fiery Hearts Club” International Human Rights Organization,for human rights protection achievements.

On the eve of this event, “Jarayon” interviewed the human rights activist, who spoke about the award she received from Christians against Torture, positive changes and challengers in the field of human rights in Uzbekistan in 2014 as well as about her plans for the future.

Jarayon: Ms.Tadjibayeva, on 15 November 2014, Actions by Christians against Torture human rights organization based in France awarded the prestigious prize for achievements in the field of human rights protection. At the beginning of our conversation, I would like once again to congratulate you on such a happy occasion on behalf of “Jarayon” website team.

What other pleasant and sad events of 2014 do you remember?

Mutabar Tadjibayeva: I would like to emphasize that I received the prestigious Engel-Tertre award from Christians against Torture in the year when this human rights organization celebrated its 40th anniversary, which is the highest assessment given to me after my release from prison. I also believe that the credit should be given to my colleagues, like-minded people who do their best to address human rights issues.

In addition, authoritative human rights organization “Reporters without Borders” included me in the list of “100 heroes of information” in 2014, and I believe that it is also a high appraisal of our work.

I would like to mention our other achievements in this year. We have intensified our efforts to fight against use of torture in Uzbekistan. This year our Jarayon website posted a series of materials about Uzbek political prisoners, and many international human rights organizations have admitted that they refer to these materials of ours while making their reports about the situation of political prisoners in Uzbekistan.Day by day, access to reliable information on the situation of human rights in Uzbekistan is narrowing, and given this situation,it is significant that we post news and analytical materials in three languages on our website.

Also in 2014, our organization managed to prepare individual complaints on behalf of victims of torture in Uzbekistan Kayum Ortikov and Khusan Ruziev, who were affected during the Andijan tragedy, to be sent to the UN Committee on Human Rights. We managed to help US-based human rights organization Freedom Now prepare and submit complaints to the UN on behalf of Uzbek human rights activist Azam Farmonov. After the International Federation for Human Rights (FDSH) and REDRESS organization filed my individual complaint to the UN Committee on Human Rights, the Government of Uzbekistan not only started applying open lies and increased pressure on “Fiery Hearts Club”International Human Rights Organization, but also began carrying out intrigues against us.

I will not be mistaken if I say that 2014 was full of great challenges for us because it is in 2014 when various kinds of pressure, harassment and slander were organized against me, our organization, including Internet attacks against “Jarayon”website.

I believe that posts on our website, including statements and journalistic investigations about violations of human rights of many people, not only attracted attention of many international organizations and the Western media, but also got the Government of Uzbekistanin awkward situations many times. As a result, various kinds of slander were disseminated against us in order to end our efforts.

The main reason for our achievements is that we cooperate with our partners working in the same direction. For example, “Fiery Hearts Club” played a significant role in the campaign to cancel Islam Karimov’s visit to Prague. Of course, this affected our protest action we planned to conduct in the Czech capital with participation of Uzbek refugees who were subjected to severe torturesin Uzbekistan. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to achieve such successes in matters relating to Uzbekistan.

However, I will remember this year due to the events that made my heart ache.

For example, there have been many cases in 2014, when families received dead bodies of their family members, who died in prisons after severe tortures. Such families were forced to hastily conduct funerals. Sometimes prison administrations, fearing to get their crimesrevealed, did not give dead bodies of prisoners mutilated by torture to family members of the deceased people.

Also, there have been many absolutely unfair trials over innocent people charged of religious extremism. Pressure on migrant workershas increased in neighboring countries. Uzbek refugees have been kidnapped and forcibly returned to their homeland.

In addition, I have great concerns with the fact that official Tashkent has extended prison terms of many political prisonersunder various pretexts; in many cases, we could not help them and their family members.

Also, I am worried as we experience difficulties to provide financial assistance to released Uzbek political prisoners to help them and their family members to recover their health. It turned out that 75-year-old writer Mamadali Makhmudov, a political prisoner who spent 17 years in prison, is paid a pension less than $ 50, and his children in Uzbekistan cannot get any jobs as they are consideredto be children of “enemy”. Recently, I found out that because of accumulated debts, Mamadali Makhmudov lost access to gas supply. What is this former political prisoner supposed to do – findmoney to pay the gas bills, to support his family, or restore his health damaged in Uzbek prisons?

Another political prisoner Murod Zhurayev is in a very deplorable situation, his family practically lives in poverty. Who is going to help his wife KholbikaZhurayeva, who has been struggling for liberation of her husband for 20 years, as a result of which she lost her health?

Who will provide moral and financial support to the children, the family of human rights activist Abdurasul Khudoinazarov, who died from a serious illness 25 days after his release from prison?No one!!!

Should family members and relatives of those who were persecuted for their fight for the idea of democracy and protection of human rights principles not be protected? Why do we let them, why are we forced to let them alone with their severe hardships and fates?

We often are horrified when we hear about how migrant workers from Uzbekistan are abused by nationalists and imprisoned and tortured on trumped-up charges. However, I am worried by the fact that we are not able to protect them, find people and get them punished for theirviolence against migrant workers. I suffer when Uzbek labor migrants commit suicides when after doing heavy and dangerous work they cannot get the money they earned to feed their families in Uzbekistan.

I suffer torments as there are very few people who care and assist to restore trampled rightsof Uzbek peoplescattered across the world.

Nowadays, many Uzbek oligarchs, big businessmen live outside Uzbekistan, who could help solve problems of ordinary people, whose rights are daily violated by the national authorities. But, unfortunately, none of them takes initiatives to provide financial support to struggle against the dictatorship.

I am tormented by these problems and the fact that we are powerless to find solutions.

Jarayon: We have learned that many donors, funding non-governmental organizations working on human rights and democracy in Central Asia, particularly in Uzbekistan, have stopped to believe in improving the human rights situation in the countries of that region. For this reason, they began to cut funding to local human rights organizations. What comments can you make on such an approach of donors?

Mutabar Tadjibayeva: I consider the actions of donors to reduce funding of civil society and local human rights organizations in Uzbekistan under the pretext that the country’s human rights situation is allegedly not changing for the better as an attempt to support the dictatorial regime in the country because donor-organizations refuse to financially support scanty representatives of the civil society in Uzbekistan and increase assistant to the dictatorial regime. They consider this as an attempt to build a civil society in Uzbekistan. Donor-organizations, which do not wish to fund the civil society in Uzbekistan, support the law enforcement structures of the government and finance their various programsin an open manner.

As an example, I would like to mention one fact – while financing NGOs in Uzbekistan, the European Union provided EURO 3.7 million to “You are not alone” Fund headed by Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva,the youngest daughter of the Uzbek dictator. This information, publicized by Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva’s attorney during the trial in France in 2011, shocked the people, who protecthuman rights and struggle for ideas of democracy because only the daughters of the dictator enjoy such generosity, the people, who ruthlessly violate human rights as well as administrative bodies, who organizetortures in the country.

Once public debates emerged regarding the given news about financing the fund of Islam Karimov’s daughter, many representatives of the civil society hoped that at least some support would be provided to their activities. However, these hopes have been in vain. Representatives of the civil society in Uzbekistan are deprived of material support of donor-organizations. As a result, activities of the people involved in human rights protection in the country encounter a great number of problems.

Here is one example: in 2014, the budget of “Fiery Hearts Club” International Human Rights Organization was only US $25,000 thousand dollars. This is an annual average salary in Europe. We spent these 25,000 dollars to payemployees of our organization and “Jarayon” website, independent journalists, human rights defenders and translators, who worked for our website for a year. However, to make sure these 25,000 dollars enough for a whole year, we had to refuse services of many human rights defenders, experts and journalists, who cooperated with us. Due to the financial constraints of our organization, “Jarayon” website had to suspend its work in September 2014.

“Ezgulik” Uzbek Human Rights Society operating in the country has faced similar financial difficulties.

As a rule, donor-organizations announce when they start accepting grant applications from human rights organizations to finance their activities. We start negotiating with them and provide them with all necessary documents. But sometimeswe get a response from them saying that they appreciate our efforts to improve human rights in Uzbekistan, but cannot finance our activities. In some cases, donor-organizations even do not deign to respond to our grant applications.

I believe that not only Western politicians are to blame for daily deterioration of the human rights situation in Uzbekistan, whoshut their eyes to crimes of the dictatorial regime for the sake of their geopolitical interests, but also donor-organizationsare to blame, which do not wish to provide financial support to scanty representatives of the civil society and Uzbek human rights organizations.

Because it is common knowledge that Uzbekistan is a country, where torture is regularly applied and its government is not willing to follow any of its international obligations. In such a situation, it is possible to influence the government only by supporting the civil society.

As “Fiery Hearts Club” International Human Rights Organization appeared to be in a difficult financial situation in 2014, we managed to conduct several actions only due to the assistance provided by the International Federation for Human Rights (FDSH), the Belgian organization of the International Partnership for Human Rights and the Helsinki Foundation in Warsaw.

The protests titled “Who is to blame?! Who is next?!” are activities our organization conducted in Vienna and Warsaw in 2014 due to the support of our partner organizations. In September 2014 during theOSCE conference in Warsaw, for the first timewe managed to make sure nine representatives of the Uzbek civil society participate at our protest actions.

Our protests also drew attention of the majority of people from OSCEparticipating countries, who attended the conference in Warsaw. Previously, many civil society activists from Uzbekistan had been deprived of an opportunity to attend not only OSCE conferencesdue to lack of financial assistance, but also other human rightsevents conducted at the international level.

Jarayon: Mrs. Tadjibayeva, this year it has been 15 years since you established “Fiery Hearts Club” Human Rights Organization. Since then, your organization has performed a lot of important work to improve the human rights situation in Uzbekistan. Please, could you speak about your plans for 2015, what other significant activities does your organization intend to implement to improve the human rights situation in the country?

Mutabar Tadjibayeva: We have scheduled a lot for 2015.

There will be presidential elections in the coming year in Uzbekistan, for this reason there is a high risk of increased pressure, growth of mass arrests of representatives of the country’s population. First of all, we intend to draw attention of the international community to make sure that these elections are fairly conducted in compliance with international norms.

In addition, in 2015, wewill continue our workin all directions identified in our Organization’s Charter. I believe that cooperation with our international partners will help improveour activities. Using international mechanisms, we need to bring people’s complaints, whose rights are grossly violated by the authorities of the country,to reputable organizations in order to continue putting pressure on the Government of Uzbekistan. Our main sloganshould be “Stop use of torture” and “Release political prisoners”.

In 2014, we started making a list of officials and civil servants responsible for tortures as well as participants of such atrocities in Uzbekistan. In addition, this year we have been making a list of political prisoners, victims of torture, kidnapped people and those who disappeared since the country’s Independence. Next year, we intend to expand the list and publicize it.

To do this, first of all we need to strengthen activitiesof our organization, to revive them, to involve activists in Uzbekistan, and to do all these, we need to solve the financial problems. We have to have financial ability to revitalize our activities and work of civil society activists, who reside in the country. We need to supply our activists with necessary equipment. We have an opportunity to receive information in Uzbekistan; also, there are representatives from various regions of the country, who are willing to cooperate with us.

We intend to register the student movement “Fiery Hearts” created in Francein 2011, the initiative group “For Life without Torture” established in America in 2014 and “Committee for Protection of Migrants Rights” set up in Brussels. We intend to strengthen their activities, too. People, who enter these newly established organizations, will create a new wave of the civil society in Uzbekistan.

In addition, we must strengthen the work of “Jarayon”website, to involve more journalists, experts and human rights activists. For 2015, we have planned to launch my personal blog and the blog of famous Uzbek human rights activist Talib Yakubov.

In addition to analytical materials, news, and statements of the organization, movies and photo exhibitions should be uploaded on our website. All these will only intensify activities of “Fiery Hearts Club”.

In 2011, I completed my book titled “Prisoner of the Island of Torture”. Today the book is being translated in English to be published under the supportof the International Federation for Human Rights (FDSH). In the future, we intend to ensure that this book is translated into the Russian and Uzbek languages. French producer Lea SamainRaimbault has already started making a short film based on my book. I hope that next year we will be able to release this film.

We intend to attract attention of European students and young people to the issue of human rights in Uzbekistanwith the help of “Fiery Hearts” Student Movement.

We also intend to carryout various protests and campaigns aimed at eliminating human rights and torture problems in Uzbekistan. We will try to make sure that victims of tortures and repressions in Uzbekistan, who reside in Europenow, join our efforts.

The number of people killed by tortureswill not reduceand human rights issues will always remain in the backgroundif victims of tortures and repressions in Uzbekistan do not loudly speak about crimes of the regime, if they continue fearing the dictatorial regime. It is very difficult to achieve any positive change in the country under such a situation.

I am confident we are able to stop political repressions in Uzbekistan.

Jarayon: Thanks for the interview, Ms.Tadjibayeva.

Interview prepared by Sofia DAVRONOVA

Hereinafter, the speeche by Mutabar Tadjibayeva delivered on 15 November 2014, the Engel-Tertre prize presentation ceremony day.