The Central Asian States continued to suffer economic decline in 1999, with all four countries covered by the Tashkent delegation experiencing a decrease in foreign investment and a fall in economic indicators. Growing discontent with multilateral regional organizations became evident when Uzbekistan withdrew from the CIS* Security Treaty and Turkmenistan pulled out of the CIS visa-free travel agreement.

Clashes with fundamentalists

A bombing incident in Tashkent in February, attributed to Islamic groups, heightened concern over the growth of fundamentalism in Central Asia. Leaders of all four of the countries covered by the regional delegation subsequently agreed to take strong measures against fundamentalist activities. Fighting broke out in August between the Kyrgyz army and a group of combatants operating along the border between southern Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Uzbek air strikes against these armed groups hit Tajik territory, resulting in a deterioration in the relations between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. [3]

Helping displaced and returning families

The fighting in southern Kyrgyzstan forced the displacement of approximately 5,000 people in the Batken area. The ICRC and the Kyrgyz Red Crescent Society cooperated to distribute food and hygiene articles to displaced and returning families.

First visit to persons deprived of their freedom

Following reports of arrests related to clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan, the regional delegation approached the Kyrgyz authorities for permission to visit detainees held in connection with the fighting. On 22 December the delegation was able to visit a prison under the responsibility of the Ministry of National Security. The visit was carried out in accordance with ICRC standard procedures and was the first ICRC visit to a place of detention in the countries covered by the regional delegation.

Encouraging the ratification and implementation of humanitarian law treaties

Throughout 1999, the Tashkent regional delegation continued to promote the incorporation of humanitarian law into national legislation and to help develop the teaching of humanitarian principles and law through national institutions. It handed over reports on the status of international law in national legislation to the governments of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. In Kyrgyzstan, the national committee on the implementation of humanitarian law, made up of representatives of different ministries, met for the first time, and the ICRC organized a training seminar for its members. Kyrgyzstan also ratified the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols, to which it had succeeded on its independence. In Uzbekistan, the ICRC cooperated with the Academy of the Ministry of the Interior, the Red Crescent Society and the National Human Rights Centre to organize a national seminar on the implementation of humanitarian law.

Developing humanitarian law studies in academic circles

ICRC dissemination staff consulted with faculties of law, journalism and international relations on the process of including humanitarian law in their curricula, sponsoring the second meeting of the Central Asian Coordinating Council for the Teaching of International Humanitarian Law and working with Ruhr University to organize a conference on the same subject. The ICRC supported research on humanitarian law, sponsored the participation of students and faculty members in activities related to humanitarian law, and provided financial and technical support for the publication of materials on the subject. The period under review saw the systematic inclusion of humanitarian law in the curricula of universities in all four countries covered by the regional delegation.

Teaching humanitarian principles in secondary schools

In an effort to instil humanitarian attitudes at an early age, the ICRC has pursued a strategy of making lessons on humanitarian issues a part of secondary school curricula. The Tashkent regional delegation maintained contacts to explore possibilities for developing school programmes in Kazakhstan, and in Kyrgyzstan a new school programme agreement was signed in November by the ICRC, the National Society and the Ministry of Education. In Uzbekistan, where the secondary school programme is relatively well developed, seminars were conducted to train educational specialists to become teacher trainers for over 12,000 grade 11 teachers. A hand-book for students and a teacher guide on its use were tested, finalized and published in Uzbek, Russian and Karakalpak and distributed in schools throughout Uzbekistan. Having thereby achieved the objectives set forth in the first agreement, the ICRC, the Red Crescent Society of Uzbekistan and the Ministry of Public Education signed a new agreement in July.

Incorporating the law of war into military training

To promote the application of humanitarian law in military operations, the regional delegation continued its efforts to encourage the armed forces in the region to include the law of armed conflict in their training programmes. In 1999, the Ministries of Defence in both Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan established comprehensive law of war training programmes. In Uzbekistan, the Deputy Minister of Defence appointed a working group to develop, in cooperation with an ICRC specialist, a curriculum and training manual on the law of armed conflict.

Working with the region’s National Societies

To promote cooperation and establish a regional approach to cooperation activities, the ICRC financed and organized a two-day workshop with the Federation and the Presidents of all four National Societies. It supported regional training courses on tracing and dissemination for National Society staff and volunteers in countries of the region. Complementing its other activities targeting young people, the delegation financed youth programmes of the Central Asian National Societies. In all four of the region’s countries it participated in press conferences marking the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions.


IN 1999 THE ICRC:

signed several cooperation project agreements with Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, and cooperation framework agreements with Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan; with the Kyrgyz Red Crescent, distributed 17 tonnes of family parcels and wheat flour and 2,000 blankets to some 5,000 displaced people and returnees in southern Kyrgyzstan; together with the Netherlands Red Cross Society, helped finance a Kyrgyz Red Crescent programme for the rehabilitation of young offenders; supported the Uzbek Red Crescent youth volunteer programme; sponsored a youth summer camp for orphans/refugee children and Red Crescent youth coordinators in Kyrgyzstan;

finished printing over 530,000 copies of the student handbook “Man and Society” and distributed over 330,000, along with over 15,900 teacher’s guides, to schools throughout Uzbekistan and conducted 22 seminars to show about 1,000 educational specialists how to train teachers in their use; in cooperation with the Institute for International Peacekeeping Law (Ruhr University, Bochum), organized a regional conference on the teaching of International Humanitarian Law in Ashgabad, attended by 22 participants from more than 15 universities of the five Central Asian Republics and Azerbaijan; sponsored the second meeting of the Central Asian Coordinating Council for the Teaching of International Humanitarian Law in Central Asia; sent representatives from Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Uzbek universities to an ICRC seminar in Moscow for Deans/Heads of Chair of Journalism;  sent faculty members from Central Asian State universities to an ICRC-organized course on humanitarian law in Moscow, and to a course on customary humanitarian law held in Geneva by the ICRC Legal Division; arranged for teams from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan to pariticipate in the De Martens moot court competition in Minsk; gave financial support to the Turkmenistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs to publish 1,000 copies of the Turkmen translation of the Geneva Conventions; financed the printing of 500 training manuals on the law of war for the Kazakh armed forces, and 500 for the Kyrgyz armed forces; trained the instructor of the new Kyrgyz National Guard course on the law of war and helped with the production of a training manual; organized a training course on the law of armed conflict to high-ranking officers of the Turkmenistan Border Guards; organized a photo exhibition, “People on War”, to raise media and public awareness of the impact of war ; the exhibition was visited by over 14,000 people in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Notes

3. See pp. 174-175.

* CIS: Commonwealth of Independent States