Armenia: Right to Know

Armenia Now reports on the current state of emergency which restricts the media in covering the post-election situation in the country following the 1 March clashes between opposition supporters and the authorities. The blog says that while the print media has become more independent under the outgoing president, the tendency to propagandize and control still exists. Such an approach is an insult to the population, the blog says.

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Updates about Central Asia & Caucasus

12 February 2012

Afghanistan

Nick Fielding reports that, according to figures from the United Nations - in contrast to the figures issued by the US military - the number of Afghan civilians killed and injured rose for the fifth consecutive year in a row.

• Adil Nurmakov

Uzbekistan

Nathan Hamm reports that two young natives of Uzbekistan residing in the United States and working as officers at Awareness Projects International (a non-profit engaging in human rights education work in Uzbekistan and elsewhere) were summoned to the police for interrogation, when they returned to their hometown of Jizzakh in late December 2011 to visit family.

• Adil Nurmakov

Kazakhstan

Camilla tells the story of Uzbek labor migrants in Kazakhstan, who were illegally trafficked - apparently, via channels, supervised by the officials - to work as slaves.

• Adil Nurmakov

Kyrgyzstan

Schwartz takes a walk around Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, offering photographs of graffiti, taken in March 2011.

• Adil Nurmakov

10 February 2012

Georgia

As parliamentary elections approach this year in Georgia, to be followed by a presidential vote in 2013, allegations against Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire opposition politician, have appeared on the Internet. The alleged exposé of life in the Ivanishvili household by American teacher Patrick Downey, formerly employed by the businessman turned politician, have been met with skepticism from other expatriates in the former Soviet republic, and not least because of claims also made against Georgia in general, the U.S., and [his ancestral homeland of] Ireland. Downey had sought asylum or residency in the latter, according to a video blog, “[…] in light of recent uncontrolled and willfully ill-advised policies concerning the mass emigration of non-Irish persons to Ireland […].” Ivanishvili has responded by saying that Downey “is suffering from psychological problems.”

• Onnik Krikorian