When Shavkat Mirziyoev became Uzbekistan's president in late 2016, he promised that the "old ways" of governing the country were over, and that he would lift restrictions on the media. He even encouraged journalists to report on issues that needed correcting in society and in governance. The Uzbek Forum for Human Rights recently released a report, The President's Broken Promises Put Journalists and Bloggers At Risk, that looks at some of the cases of journalists and bloggers who ran afoul of the authorities for their reporting in the "new" Uzbekistan. Joining host Bruce Pannier are Umida Niyazova, director at the Germany-based Uzbek Forum for Human Rights, and Matthew Schaaf, the advocacy director at the Washington-based organization Freedom Now.
Vote-weary Uzbekistan to hold snap presidential election on July 9 eurasianet.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from eurasianet.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Cotton Campaign, a global coalition of human rights, labour, responsible investor and business bodies, recently ended its earlier call for a global boycott of Uzbek cotton..