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| Andijan massacre: at least 500 people killed |
Andijon residents collecting the bodies of relatives killed by security forces
© RFE/RL |
At least 500 people were killed when state security forces opened fire on protestors in Andijan (Uzbekistan) on 13 May 2005.
According to the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), thousands of people - including many women and children - were taking part in a rally in the city centre when two columns of armoured cars fired on civilians apparently indiscriminately. An IWPR reporter was present during the massacre, and collected testimonies of survivors, which can be read here.
The government claims that 169 people were shot dead by state forces, but a local organisation has been collecting the names of the victims.
Andijan is located in the volatile Ferghana Valley region of Central Asia, close to Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Foundation for Tolerance International, an IANSA member in Kyrgyzstan, is concerned that Uzbekistan government's oppressive response to the public outrage created by the massacre will lead to further unrest in the Ferghana Valley.
FTI, along with other human rights groups, have been protesting outside the Uzbekistan and Russian embassies in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan's capital. They condemn the Uzbekistan government for the massacre and the Russian government for its continuing support of the Uzbekistan government (click here to read a summary of the Kremlin's position, in English).
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FTI is working to help the roughly 547 IDPs including 96 women and 21 children (as of 18 May). However, unofficial sources claim around 7,000 people have crossed the border from Uzbekistan following the massacre. Concerned that the Kyrgyzstan government may forcibly return these people - despite the risk that they would be killed in Uzbekistan - FTI, together with other Kyrgyz NGOs have endorsed a statement in English addressed to the UN, OSCE and US and a statement in Russian addressed to the Kyrgyzstan government about the Uzbekistan IDPs.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for an independent investigation into the massacre. A preliminary government-organised delegation to Andijan "was completely stage-managed," a Western diplomat told the UN news service IRIN. "We were not allowed to talk to local people, see hospitals or morgues, or move freely around the city". Click here to read more.
The Control Arms campaign demands that state security forces use only proportionate force and as necessary to protect life according to the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials. Click here to read the Guns and Policing report.
The US State Department's annual reports on human rights practices have described the Uzbekistan government's human rights record as "very poor" every year since at least 2000. Yet Russia and France sold small arms to Uzbekistan as recently as 2003, according to the customs information states supply to the UN.
Click here to see selected figures
Click here to get the data directly from the UN commodities trade database |
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