December 13, 2006 -- The bloody events in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijon in May 2005 sent shock waves throughout Central Asia and around the world. The violence also created hundreds, possibly thousands, of refugees.

One UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) official in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh told RFE/RL that some 2,000 Andijon refugees remain in Kyrgyzstan.

Uzbek refugees who fled to Kyrgyzstan have received the most attention. The UNHCR relocated hundreds to Romania and elsewhere, but hundreds remain.

Tashkent accused 15 of those refugees

By Aziza Turdueva in Bishkek (RCA No. 472, 21-Nov-06)

Refugees who fled to Kyrgyzstan following violence in the Uzbek city of Andijan last year face an uncertain future in their new homeland, with many living in poverty and in fear that they will be forced back to Uzbekistan.

At least 800 refugees crossed the border in the days following May 13, 2005, when Uzbek troops opened fire on unarmed protesters.

So far, 440 have since been sent to other

OVERVIEW

After the indiscriminate killing of civilians by Uzbek security forces in the city of Andijon in 2005, the European Union imposed targeted sanctions on the government of President Islam Karimov. EU leaders called for Uzbekistan to allow an international investigation into the massacre, stop show trials and improve its human rights record. Now a number of EU member states, principally Germany, are pressing to lift or weaken the sanctions, as early as this month. The Karimov government has done nothing to justify such an approach. Normalisation of relations

Human rights: Tibet, Guatemala, Uzbekistan

Parliament adopted three resolutions on Thursday aimed at turning the spotlight on human rights abuses. MEPs condemned the incident in Tibet on 20 September when Chinese police attacked unarmed Tibetan civilians trying to seek refugee status in Nepal. They gave their backing to efforts to bring seven former Guatemalan dictators to justice. Lastly, they voiced concern about the situation in Uzbekistan but rejected a call for EU sanctions to be expanded to include President Karimov and others.

Uzbekistan

Summary

The present report is submitted pursuant to paragraph 5 of General Assembly resolution 60/174, in which the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to submit a report to the General Assembly at its sixty-first session on the implementation of that resolution.

It concludes that the lack of response from the Government of Uzbekistan to the call for the establishment of

In an address Wednesday to the annual meeting of UNHCR's 70-nation Executive Committee, Assistant High Commissioner Erika Feller provided an overview of international refugee protection during the past year. While there were several successes, there were also some

New research from Save the Children reveals the devastating consequences of armed conflict on education in thirty countries . Schools are destroyed or commandeered by armed forces, teachers are killed or flee to escape the violence, children can be recruited and forced to fight, and are more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.

Save the Children has identified a 'blind-spot'

By IWPR staff in London (RCA No. 463, 8-Sep-06)

The Uzbek authorities are tearing a swathe through the eastern town of Qorasuv to create a security zone on the border with Kyrgyzstan, and residents say they are not being offered adequate compensation.

The border runs along the river Shahrikhansay, which cuts straight through the town. The opposite bank is Kyrgyzstan, and the town there is known as Karasuu. The house clearance programme is

The chief of Kyrgyzstan's National Security Service, Lt. Gen. Busurmankul Tabaldiyev, announced September 4 that a series of special operations had succeeded in eliminating the leadership of the Islamic Party of Turkestan, which has been blamed for carrying out raids on border posts in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan last May.

Radical groups "are now left with