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  • Community Op-Ed: Staying Safe for the Holidays

    BY ERIC ADAMS, NYC MAYOR

    The upcoming holiday season is a festive time of year. It’s getting colder, so we try to stay warm, we invite friends and family over, cook more, light candles, maybe burn a fire in the fireplace or use space heaters, buy Christmas trees and string them up with lights, and fill our homes with other decorations. That is why the winter season is also unfortunately known as the fire season, and more than one-third of all home fires occur between December, January, and February.

    Early during our administration, in January 2022, 17 people were killed and many more were injured in a tragic fire at the Twin Parks apartment building in the Bronx. The fire was caused by a defective space heater and self-closing doors that didn’t work properly. That loss and devastation remains with us, which is why we are asking all New Yorkers to work together and take some basic precautions this winter season so that we can make this a safe and happy time of celebration.

    Smoking materials, like cigarette butts, ashes, lighters, and matches, are the leading cause of home fires. Make sure they are discarded properly in large, deep ashtrays. Smoking is followed by home heating as the second leading cause of home fires. Make sure your equipment —including central heating units, portable and fixed space heaters, as well as fireplaces — are installed by a qualified technician, and inspected and cleaned regularly. All space heaters should have the “Underwriters Laboratories” (UL) mark on them. Never use an extension cord with a space heater, and avoid using space heaters in places like bathrooms, where they can come into contact with water. And make sure to put out the fire in your fireplace completely before you go to sleep.

    Candle fires have tripled in the past 10 years — most of these happen when the candles are left unattended or are lit next to combustible materials like paper or fabric. If you enjoy candles in your home, make sure to be present at all times while the candle is burning; keep candles away from flammable materials like curtains, decorations, and bedding; and also place them out of reach of children and pets.

    Electric blankets and extension cords are another source of potential danger. They should also have the (UL) mark. Please replace your electric blanket if it is more than 10 years old and buy ones with an automatic shut-off. Also, inspect the condition of your extension cords, make sure that all outlets and switches have cover plates that are not discolored (a possible sign of overheating), and however much you have going on, please don’t overload your outlets with more than two appliances.

    If you are buying an artificial Christmas tree, buy one that is flame retardant. Position your trees near outlets so that you don’t have to use extension cords and unplug tree lights when you are not in the room or are going to sleep.

    If you own an e-bike or other micro-mobility device, never charge it overnight or leave batteries unattended while charging. Don’t store devices between you and the exit of your home (the batteries can explode, trapping you inside.) Ideally, do not store your batteries or devices indoors at all.

    Finally, remember that smoke alarms and carbon-monoxide detectors save lives. Make sure to check your smoke alarms and replace the batteries twice a year. Carbon monoxide is a colorless and odorless gas that is released during fires or by malfunctioning heating equipment. Carbon monoxide kills, so a working carbon monoxide detector is essential. It is also required by law in New York City.

    Let’s make 2023 the safest holiday season ever so that we can all celebrate our festivals, families, friends, and this beautiful city we call home. Happy holidays!

    The post Community Op-Ed: Staying Safe for the Holidays first appeared on VOSA.

    This post was originally published on VOSA.

  • Community Op-Ed: Saying “Yes” to New Zoning, New Businesses, and New Opportunities

    By Eric Adams, NYC MAYOR

    Last month, New York City hit an economic milestone, with more total jobs than ever before in our city’s history. Our administration is proud of the work we have done to ensure our economy has made a full recovery — and we are determined to keep working to create jobs and opportunity for all New Yorkers.

    Our “City of Yes for Economic Opportunity” proposal is one of the many ways we are aiming to create new pathways to prosperity. We are seeing transformative changes in how we live and work, and our city’s rules and regulations must adapt to these new realities — especially when it comes to antiquated zoning laws from decades ago. Rules that made sense in the days of the rotary telephone are getting in the way of doing business in the age of the smartphone.

    We recently kicked off the public review process for this ambitious proposal to advance 18 essential changes to our citywide zoning code that will boost our economic recovery, help New Yorkers access goods and services in their neighborhood, and make it easier to expand or start new businesses. Over the next several months, all New Yorkers will have the chance to learn about this proposal and make their voices heard.

    The “City of Yes for Economic Opportunity” initiative includes plans to foster vibrant neighborhoods with more kinds of businesses in more kinds of places. For example, our plan would allow a successful bakery to expand closer to your neighborhood, rather than having to move to a different area zoned for heavy manufacturing and away from customers who would benefit most from having that business nearby.

    The plan is also the largest initiative to support industrial jobs and businesses in the history of New York’s zoning, including by making more space available for small-scale clean manufacturing — including designers, retailers, artists, craftspeople, and makers of all kinds — and creating new zoning tools for industrial businesses.

    The current zoning was crafted for the industrial businesses that existed 60 years ago, and our proposal will update these rules to allow businesses to grow in New York, providing good-paying jobs for New Yorkers. Our plan will modernize regulations for New Yorkers who want to run a business from their home and set new standards for using existing buildings in new ways, something that is clearly a priority with the rise of remote work.

    This plan will also address the ongoing issue of vacant storefronts in our city, getting more of them re-rented and re-activated by loosening rules about which types of businesses can locate where, and by modifying a counterproductive regulation that prevents some storefronts from being reoccupied if they are vacant for more than two years.

    We are also upgrading and reforming zoning to support our café and nightlife sector, the life sciences, film production, urban agriculture, and more.

    From food to fashion to tech and art, these small and specific changes will have an outsized impact on our economy. This new way of doing things will create a new and more collaborative culture going forward — one where city government is a partner working to streamline solutions, not an obstacle to be overcome.

    That is what being a City of Yes is all about. Yes, to new businesses, new industries, and new ideas. Yes, to new housing and opportunity. Yes, to change and creativity. And yes, to ensuring that New York remains a place where you can put your ideas into action and succeed.

    The post Community Op-Ed: Saying “Yes” to New Zoning, New Businesses, and New Opportunities first appeared on VOSA.

    This post was originally published on VOSA.

  • Community Op-Ed: New Yorkers are Spreading the Love. Here’s how you can get involved.

    By: Eric Adams, the NYC Mayor

    New York: We all love New York City. And this year, New Yorkers have been showing their love by lending a helping hand as part of our Spread Love campaign. Since March, nearly 30,000 New Yorkers have given more than 235,000 hours of their time to help out our neighbors in need.

    Thanks in no small part to the sacrifices of volunteers, our city is back better than ever. Jobs are at an all-time high and crime is down. We overcame the darkest days of the pandemic because of the selfless work of everyday volunteers. But so many of our neighbors — especially young people, families, and older adults — still need our help. Imagine what would happen if every New Yorker committed just one hour a week to an act of service. The result would be transformative.

    There are so many opportunities to get involved. It can be as simple as helping an older neighbor shovel snow or pitching in to clean up your local park. If you don’t have time to spare, you can also donate directly to community organizations that support New Yorkers in need. Organizations are happy to take extra food items, clothing, hygiene products, technology, and supplies.

    As cold weather approaches, you can also donate winter coats and jackets to keep your fellow New Yorkers warm. Just this past week, we launched the annual New York Cares coat drive, with the goal of collecting and distributing a record 250,000 coats. You can help make history by reaching into your closet and dropping off old or unused coats at a location near you. Find out where at newyorkcares.org/coat-drive.

    When you give to others, you won’t just be helping New Yorkers in need — you’ll also be helping yourself. I have felt the joy of giving back firsthand. Every Wednesday, I hand out food to our brothers and sisters in need. It is one of the most meaningful moments in my week. And that’s why we launched the We <3 New York campaign: to help every New Yorker discover the satisfaction of engaging with their communities.

    The opportunities to help out are nearly limitless and our city’s NYC Service office can help connect you. At NYC.gov/Service you can easily find volunteer postings near you from more than 500 community organizations across the city. You can search by interest, keyword, location, and more. You can sign up by yourself or with family and friends, because volunteering together is even more fun!

    Recent volunteer opportunities include a chance to work with furry friends, helping older New Yorkers take care of their pets. You can also sign up to develop your green thumb by volunteering at a local garden, help neighbors get access to healthy food by working at a food pantry, tutor local high school students in language, or support our newest New Yorkers through an asylum seeker volunteer opportunity.

    Love means taking action. Love means serving others. Love means getting stuff done for New Yorkers in need. Now is the time to spread that love to every block and borough. Together we can make a real difference in the lives of our fellow New Yorkers.

    The post Community Op-Ed: New Yorkers are Spreading the Love. Here’s how you can get involved. first appeared on VOSA.

    This post was originally published on VOSA.

  • Community Op-Ed: New York City is Back – With More Jobs Than Ever

    By: Eric Adams, New York City Mayor 

     

    New York: Less than two years ago, I was sworn in as the 110th mayor of New York City. Our city was still reeling from the devastation of a global pandemic. Commercial neighborhoods and office buildings were deserted. Headlines questioned the future of New York City.

    But I knew then what every New Yorker has always known: this city would be back.

    And right now, that comeback is official: We have regained the nearly one million private sector jobs that were lost during COVID-19, and New York City has more total jobs than EVER before in our city’s history, totaling 4,709,400 million jobs. Not just private sector jobs. Total jobs. Ands more than 280,500 of those jobs were created since the beginning of this administration.

    This is more than just a recovery, and I am proud to say we got there ahead of schedule. Before we took office, experts were projecting the city wouldn’t regain pre-pandemic job levels until 2025, but this is the “Get Stuff Done” administration. And we got it done in 22 months.

    Our plan was straightforward: Protect public safety, invest in public spaces, and support working people, or as we have been calling it, the “Triangle Offense.”

    As I have said for so long, public safety is the prerequisite to prosperity.

    It is what I campaigned on, what I was elected to do, and what we have delivered for New Yorkers.

    That is why we took immediate action and invested $171 million in our Subway Safety Plan; took action on gun violence, car theft, and retail crime; and boosted enforcement of quality of life and criminal offenses alike.

    This simple equation — jobs are up, crime is down, and every day we are delivering for working people — is the foundation of everything else we want to accomplish moving forward.

    And the results speak for themselves: Riders are back on our transit system heading back to work, and New Yorkers are safer — and feel safer — and it makes all the difference.

    We are embarking on the most ambitious housing effort in generations, investing in sustainability and resiliency projects across the five broughs, and making transformative changes in how we keep our city clean.

    We are also delivering billions into the pockets of working people across the city, but when it comes to lifting up working people, we are going to go even further.

    Too many people have been left out of this recovery. Black unemployment is too high. Our wealth gap is too wide. Equity remains a serious issue in communities of color across the board.

    We must build a fairer, more inclusive economy. And we are going to start with a “Working People’s Tour” of the five boroughs — one that highlights the New Yorkers powering our recovery, introduces new economic solutions, and allows us to hear directly from those who are still lacking access to good jobs. We will create new interventions to help boost growth and build on-ramps to opportunity across the five boroughs because all New Yorkers must share in our city’s prosperity, no matter what line of work they are in or what borough they hail from.

    New York City has a history of coming back stronger no matter how tough things get. Going forward, we are going to make sure that every New Yorker can share in our city’s legendary opportunity and prosperity as well.

    The post Community Op-Ed: New York City is Back – With More Jobs Than Ever first appeared on VOSA.

    This post was originally published on VOSA.

  • Community Op-Ed: Investing in clean, green public space for all New Yorkers

    By: Eric Adams, Mayor New York City

    New York: So much of New York City’s history was about changing the natural environment – cutting it down, clearing it out, paving it over. But going forward, we know that the future is about working with nature, building a greener, cleaner, safer city for all. From parks and playgrounds to streets, sidewalks, bike lanes and even beaches, our Administration is committed to investing in the quality and cleanliness of our public spaces all across the five boroughs.

    This past week, we announced two major initiatives that will transform what it feels like be outside in New York City: A historic expansion of our greenway network, and an ambitious citywide trash containerization effort that will revolutionize the way we keep our streets clean.

    For far too long, New Yorkers in the outer boroughs have not had the same level of access to bike lanes and greenways that people in Manhattan have, and our Administration is determined to change that.

    That is why we have announced a historic expansion of New York City’s greenway corridors in our outer boroughs. We will be adding over 60 miles of bikeways and walkways that will connect every corner of our city with new transportation options and transform the ways New Yorkers live, work, and get around.

    These greenways will ultimately cover 16 miles of Queens waterfront, connect Coney Island to Highland Park and Randall’s Island Park to SUNY Maritime, as well as linking the Goethals Bridge to the Verrazzano on Staten Island. It will also connect the Spring Creek Park to Brookville Park in Southern Queens and JFK Airport.

    This expansion of our existing greenway network will begin with a collaborative, community-driven process – so that every New Yorker can have a say in the future of our city. And it will build on the improvements we are already making in cycling infrastructure all over our city, including double-wide bike lanes on Third and Tenth Avenues in Manhattan, new protected bike infrastructure in the Bronx on Soundview and Lafayette Avenues; the longest-ever protected bike lanes in East New York, and the expansion of our protected bike lane network in Long Island City.

    Cycling ridership in New York City has reached an all-time high, with 2 million annual trips taken by bike this year. We want to make sure people who want to ride can get around this city safely and smoothly.

    We also want to make sure that our city streets are as clean as possible – and that means changing the way to put out and pick up our trash.

    Earlier this year, we mandated later set out times for residential trash pickup, and beginning in 2024, we will be implementing a citywide containerization program that will get trash bags off the streets and into specially designed wheelie bins. No more piles of black bags that impede sidewalks and attract rats – we are taking our trash directly into the future. This program is modeled after systems that have been successfully implemented in so many global cities – and will now improve life in our city, too.

    More bikes, more paths, more parks – and less trash and garbage. That is what we want for our city – and what our administration is working hard to deliver. Working together, we can clear the way to a more equitable, beautiful, and connected city

    The post Community Op-Ed: Investing in clean, green public space for all New Yorkers first appeared on VOSA.

    This post was originally published on VOSA.

  • Community Op-Ed: Keeping Our Communities Safe From Fentanyl

    By: New York City Mayor Eric Adams

    New York: Public safety is our administration’s top priority, and keeping New Yorkers safe from the growing threat of fentanyl is a core part of that mission.

    All of us have heard about the danger fentanyl poses to our children and our communities. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is approximately 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. It is inexpensive, widely available, highly addictive, and extremely dangerous.

    Drug traffickers are increasingly mixing fentanyl with other illicit drugs to drive addiction and create repeat business. Over 3,000 people fatally overdosed in New York City in 2022, with fentanyl detected in 81 percent of drug overdose deaths.

    The tragic death of Nicholas Dominici, the toddler who died after being exposed to fentanyl at a daycare center, was a shocking and heartbreaking reminder that we must take immediate action to get this crisis under control.

    Last week, we hosted a two-day summit on the fentanyl crisis that brought elected leaders, public health officials, and law enforcement professionals from across the country to New York City to work towards a national strategy to combat fentanyl overdoses.

    The summit included representatives from major cities across the nation, including Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Laredo, New Haven, Austin, Dallas, St. Louis, Washington D.C., Portland, San Diego, Atlanta, and more. We focused on all aspects of the crisis – including education, enforcement, awareness, prevention, and treatment. Over the course of two days and multiple strategy sessions, we were able to exchange ideas, learn from intervention models across municipalities, and help build a comprehensive strategy to address one of the most important public health and public safety issues of our time.

    New York City has already taken significant steps to combat the fentanyl crisis, including intensive enforcement that has resulted in multiple arrests of drug dealers and traffickers, including the recent arrest of a man transporting almost 30 pounds of fentanyl bricks in a rolling suitcase on the subway and on the sidewalks of a busy Bronx neighborhood.

    In addition to expanded enforcement, we are actively working with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and other agencies to bolster our harm reduction strategies. We have increased our support for prevention, substance use disorder treatment and recovery programs citywide, and distributed more than 77,000 Naloxone kits and tens of thousands of fentanyl and xylazine test strips. We have also made Naloxone more available in primary care offices, emergency rooms, correctional, reentry, and homeless outreach settings.

    At the conclusion of the summit, participants agreed on key actions to address the ongoing fentanyl crisis, including:

    Creating a multi-city task force that will meet again before the end of the year; Drafting a comprehensive plan outlining national best practices and opportunities; Expanding data-sharing to the national level to ensure accurate and timely coordination around lab and overdose data; Identifying and securing city, state, and national funding and legislative needs to prevent overdose deaths and save lives,Developing community outreach strategies to better understand behavioral dynamics associated with drug abuse, andTaking steps to reduce the stigma around addiction and substance abuse so that those suffering from addiction can get help before it is too late.

    We all came away from this summit with a renewed determination to stop the flow of fentanyl into our cities, hold bad actors accountable, and invest in evidence-based interventions that protect New Yorkers and all Americans from this dangerous drug.

    We cannot sit back and let what happened to prior generations happen to our babies and families. We cannot repeat the mistakes that were made that led to the epidemics of heroin in the 1960s and crack cocaine in the 1980s.

    I was working as a police officer during the 1980s, and I saw how crack devastated our communities because the resources were not there. We must do everything in our power to confront — and defeat —the fentanyl crisis. That means education, that means treatment, and that means enforcement.

    The summit reminded us that we are always stronger and better when we work together. I know that, with our partners from across the country, we can and we will reduce overdoses, save lives, and protect our children and our communities.

    The post Community Op-Ed: Keeping Our Communities Safe From Fentanyl first appeared on VOSA.

    This post was originally published on VOSA.

  • Community Op-Ed: The Future of Housing in NYC

    By: New York City Mayor  Eric Adams

    New York: Our administration recently proposed the most ambitious pro-housing zoning changes in the history of New York City — changes that would rewrite the wrongs of the past and clear the way toward building the kinds of housing New York City so desperately needs.

    The 1961 Zoning Resolution drastically changed the way our city would build housing and office space for over six decades, restricting the kinds of housing that could be built in certain neighborhoods, and effectively deciding who was allowed to live where.

    We can never lose sight of the fact that many of those who pushed for the 1961 Zoning Code aimed to promote racial segregation.

    In addition to that injustice, the 1961 code prioritized highways and cars over housing and mass transit, and limited growth rather than encouraging it.

    These restrictive and increasingly complicated zoning rules are ultimately what got us to where we are today: a city that has failed to create enough housing for New Yorkers.

    Our plan will end this longstanding history of injustice and allow us to build a little more housing in every neighborhood. The zoning updates we are proposing will help build the new housing so many New Yorkers want: modern apartment buildings, beautiful brownstones, and affordable condos — all in mixed-use neighborhoods with multiple transit options.

    Our proposal will incentivize affordable housing, build more housing near transit hubs, convert unused office space into apartments, and allow homeowners to build so-called “granny flats” on their property. We are also proposing that campuses, including houses of worship and other faith-based institutions, be allowed to develop housing on their existing properties — effectively saying, “Yes in God’s backyard.” And finally, we are determined to prioritize people over parking by lifting parking mandates for new developments, a major shift that will bring down costs of new housing all over the five boroughs. Under this proposal, while people will still be allowed to add parking, no one will be forced to build parking they don’t want.

    This plan aims to boost housing supply by 100,000 homes in neighborhoods across the city over the next 15 years — supporting a quarter of a million New Yorkers — while simultaneously creating 250,000 family-sustaining jobs. It will help us get the housing we need for working people, growing families, new arrivals, young people just starting out, and older folks looking to age in place.

    Half of all New Yorkers today are rent burdened, which means that they spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent. In some communities, that number is even higher. Too many New Yorkers struggle with rent, and far too many New Yorkers are at risk of poverty and homelessness.

    Our administration has already done important things to combat the housing crisis, including increasing the number of affordable homes, producing the most new supportive homes and homes for formerly homeless New Yorkers, and connecting more New Yorkers to permanent homes with CityFHEPS housing vouchers than ever in the program’s history.

    But increasing supply is the surest path to bringing down rents and giving New Yorkers a break from the constant pressure of housing costs.

    These are major, transformational changes that have succeeded at providing more affordable, stable housing in other cities, which virtually every housing expert and city planner agree on. In order to make them a reality, these rules will have to be approved by our City Council.

    The Department of City Planning has just begun the process to advance this proposal. With public support, these changes could be in effect starting next fall.

    We look forward to working with New Yorkers, housing advocates, community leaders, elected officials, and our brothers and sisters in labor unions to help make this a reality.

    Because the future of housing is the future of New York City.

    If we do this right, decades from now, New Yorkers will see this moment for what it was: a turning point away from exclusionary policies and outdated ideas, and towards a more equitable future.

    It will be the moment when we came together and decided to be a ‘City of Yes.’

    The post Community Op-Ed: The Future of Housing in NYC first appeared on VOSA.

    This post was originally published on VOSA.

  • Community Op-Ed: Supercharging Safety for E-bikes

    By Eric Adams NYC Mayor 

    New York: Electronic transportation devices are everywhere in New York City now – and from daily commuting to food delivery, they are revolutionizing how we get around. E-bikes and e-scooters are a convenient and low-cost alternative to cars. They help reduce congestion on our streets and make our city cleaner and greener. Tens of thousands of our delivery workers rely on them for their livelihoods, and we all rely on them when we have goods delivered.

    E-bikes are here to stay, and our city wants to make sure they are safe and reliable for all – both on the street and when they are being stored and recharged. While most of the e-bikes and e-scooters in our city are safe, there are some that do not meet safety standards and contain uncertified lithium-ion batteries.

    These faulty devices are causing fires and explosions, putting New Yorkers and our first responders in danger. Last week, the City Council and our Administration took action to protect New Yorkers and delivery workers from these faulty devices. We are also taking action to crack down on illegal electric mopeds that endangers pedestrians and cyclists.

    Last week, I signed five bills that ban the sale of uncertified e-vehicles as well as refurbished batteries. And we released our Charge Safe, Ride Safe plan to help New Yorkers use e-bikes and e-scooters safely. New Yorkers deserve access to safe devices and batteries, and we are committed to helping them transition away from faulty and unsafe ones.

    New York City is leading the charge on safety, and we will continue to support a transition to safe electric mobility devices. We are going to pilot options like battery swapping and safe charging systems for our delivery workers and identify opportunities to make safe and legal devices accessible and affordable. And we are going to work with Los Deliveristas Unidos and other community groups, visiting all corners of New York City to train people on safety measures.

    We are expanding education, increasing enforcement on high-risk situations, and pursuing additional regulation from the Federal government to ensure that illegal devices are not on our streets.

    Many people store batteries and battery-operated scooters in their homes, places of business , and in their restaurants. And every New Yorker who uses these devices can help keep themselves and the city safe by following these tips:

    Purchase only legal, UL-certified e-bikes and e-scooters. Never use refurbished batteries. Use only the charger and battery made specifically for your device. Keep batteries away from heat sources like radiators. If a battery is damaged, stop using it. Do not store batteries near the exit of a room or apartment. And never leave batteries unattended when charging, especially overnight.

    New Yorkers can dispose of lithium-ion batteries safely at DSNY drop-off sites or pop-up events, which you can find at nyc.gov/batteries.

    All New Yorkers and our delivery workers deserve to be safe in their homes and on our streets. Thousands of New Yorkers are choosing a healthier and greener way to travel around this city, and we are going to ensure they can do so safely.

    The post Community Op-Ed: Supercharging Safety for E-bikes first appeared on VOSA.

    This post was originally published on VOSA.

  • Community Op Ed: Cannabis Justice for All

    Community Op Ed: Cannabis Justice for All

    By Eric Adams, New York City Mayor

    Legalizing cannabis was a major step forward for equity and justice in our city. But legalization is about following the new laws, not a free pass to sell unregulated cannabis products. 

    Over the last few months, illegal cannabis retailers have taken advantage of decriminalization efforts, with unlicensed smoke shops popping up all over the city. This “Wild West” attempt to gain market share will not be tolerated. New York City has changed the laws, but we intend to enforce them — fairly, equitably, and thoroughly.

    For many years, people of color in our communities were routinely targeted when it came to cannabis law enforcement. Cannabis criminalization was used to harass, arrest, and prosecute our brothers and sisters.

    Advocates rightly pushed for an end to these practices, and fought hard to put racial equity at the center of New York’s cannabis legalization

    efforts. Past convictions were automatically expunged or suppressed. People with past convictions for marijuana and their family members are being given priority for these licenses. 50 percent of licenses have been set aside for social and economic equity applicants.

    An open and democratic process resulted in the progress so many wanted to see — an end to the “war on drugs” mentality, the establishment of a safe and sanctioned cannabis industry for adults, and a pathway to restorative justice for those who were unfairly prosecuted in the past.

    Legal cannabis is expected to be a $1.3 billion industry that will create thousands of jobs and generate approximately $40 million per year in tax revenue for our city. And 40 percent of the tax revenues from legal cannabis will be invested back in the communities that were most harmed by prohibition.

    We have a moral obligation to make sure that the people who were adversely affected by marijuan criminalization get their fair share of this emerging market. That’s part of the mission of the new CannabisNYC Office. his is a city agency that will make New Yorkers aware of opportunities to participate in this industry, promote equity, and help applicants navigate the licensing process.

    In the last month, the first licensed cannabis dispensaries in our city have opened for business. One is owned by a not-for-profit that supports people living with H.I.V. and A.I.D.S., the other by a formerly incarcerated entrepreneur who received priority for a license because he is one of countless Black men who was harmed by the drug war in the 1990s.

    But these legitimate businesses are facing stiff competition from shops that are not following the rules. Instead of respect for the law, what we have seen recently is the proliferation of storefronts across New York City, selling unlicensed, unregulated untaxed cannabis products.

    Those who flout the cannabis tax laws and regulations are robbing the very communities that are finally on the cusp of benefiting from a just and equitable system.

    We cannot allow that.  We’re not going to take two steps back by letting illegal smoke shops take over this emerging market, especially when so many of them are selling unlawful and unlicensed products that could seriously harm consumers.

    It is time for the operation of illegal cannabis dispensaries to end.

    Sheriff Miranda and our partners at the N.Y.P.D. recently took direct action to counter this trend. Over a two-week enforcement blitz,  the Sheriff’s Office issued 566 violations and seized $4.1 million worth of product at 53 location

    And this week, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office sent letters to approximately 400 unlicensed smoke shops in Manhattan. The letters state that the city will commence legal eviction proceedings against commercial tenants who are engaged in illegal business activity. That includes the unlicensed sale of cannabis, the sale of untaxed cigarettes, and the sale of adulterated products.  If owners and landlords fail to initiate timely eviction proceedings against these commercial tenants, the Sheriff’s Office will take over and pursue eviction proceedings.

    While we are not ruling out criminal prosecutions for tax evasion, money laundering, or the sale of cannabis to minors, the focus of this initiative at this time is civil enforcement. We want to give New York’s legal cannabis market a chance to thrive — and deliver on the vision of safety, equity and justice that advocates fought for so long.

    The post Community Op Ed: Cannabis Justice for All first appeared on VOSA.

    This post was originally published on VOSA.

  • Community Op Ed: Composting for All

    Community Op Ed: Composting for All

    By Eric Adams: New York City Mayor

    New Yorkers know that rats love trash bags full of food waste. And they know that I hate rats. This week, our Administration declared that Restaurant Week for rats in this City is finally over. 

    For too long, New Yorkers have had to bring their compost to neighborhood drop off sites, or deal with one-off collection programs that weren’t designed to reach everyone. This meant mountains of trash bags on our sidewalks, attracting rats day and night.

    New Yorkers have been saying loudly that they want a compost program across the City – they want the rat food out of the black bags and out of the landfills once and for all. For over twenty years, New York City has been trying to achieve citywide curbside composting that actually WORKS for everyone.

    We are finally getting it done. By the fall of next year, New Yorkers in all five boroughs will be able to put their yard waste and food scraps out on the curb year-round, in the simplest, easiest, most efficient curbside composting program ever.

    No more carrying your banana peels to neighborhood drop off sites or bagging up fall leaves to be thrown in the garbage. New Yorkers across all five boroughs will be able to compost kitchen scraps and yard waste every week on their recycling day. What could be more convenient for us, or more upsetting for the rats?

    Starting March 27 of this year, composting service will restart in Queens after a brief winter pause. It will never take a seasonal break again. On October 2, we will roll out a composting in all of Brooklyn, followed by service in Staten Island and the Bronx in March 2024.  And on October 7, 2024, we will expand composting to all of Manhattan, creating the largest citywide composting program in the country.

    This is a new, free, universal service for New Yorkers, andwe’re making it as easy and straightforward as possible. You can use our Brown Bin or your own bin – no more complicated rules. And you can compost everything from vegetable scraps to coffee grounds and chicken bones. We like to say, “If you cook it or you grow it, you can throw it.”

    Our pilot program in Queens kept nearly 13 million pounds of kitchen and yard waste out of our landfills in just three months. That’s more than the weight of 300 city busses! Imagine the impact when we expand that to 8.5 million New Yorkers across all five boroughs.

    This is about more than making life easier for families and homeowners – and worse for rats. It’s about improving our environment and quality of life across the board. New York City produces over a million tons of food waste every single year. Right now, we know that 1/3 of all material in our refuse stream is compostable material, which goes to landfill and decomposes over YEARS, releasing harmful methane gas.

    Instead, we’re going to capture and use that waste ourselves to make usable soil, biosolids, and renewable energy. Under this new program, some of the material will be composted at our facility on Staten Island and other places around the country; other material will be turned into usable natural gas and biosolids by the Department of Environmental Protection right in Brooklyn.

    And all of that compost can be used by New Yorkers to grow healthy food. The soil will return to our parks, planters, and personal gardens. People will be able to pick this up for free. And those who love gardening or growing urban farms can grow fresh, healthy food right here in New York City.

    I want to thank everyone who has made this possible, including the Queens residents who led the way, separating their compost and making the pilot program a success.

    We are making composting easy in every corner and in every neighborhood in New York City.

    This is huge win for cleanliness, a huge win for sustainability, and the environment we all share as New Yorkers. The only ones that lose are those rats.

    The post Community Op Ed: Composting for All first appeared on VOSA.

  • Community Op Ed: A Working People’s Agenda

    By Eric Adams, NYC Mayor

    Last week, inQueens — the borough I grew up in — I reported to New Yorkers on the state of our city. I outlined what we’ve accomplished in the year since I took office, and my vision for the future. We are going to build a city for working people, one that is more affordable, safer, cleaner, and more livable.

    We focused on four essential pillars: jobs, safety, housing, and care.

    Because without a strong working class, this city cannot survive.

    Working people need good jobs and pathways to get those jobs. And those jobs need to be able to support a home for New Yorkers and their families.

    That is why we are reimagining our workforce system, connecting 30,000 New Yorkers to apprenticeships through a new Apprenticeship Accelerator. It’s also why we are creating the jobs for the future, through our first of its kind biotech start up incubator that will be home to the next generation of transformative companies, and our Kips Bay life sciences hub, which will help create jobs and train New Yorkers for high demand careers in the life sciences, healthcare, and public health.

    And we are ensuring that more city dollars go to minority and women-owned businesses as well as creating a new Nursing Education Initiative to support 30,000 current and aspiring nurses over the next five years.

    And while we are finally seeing crime begin to decline in New York City, we must continue to make our streets safe, and it starts with getting New York City’s Most Wanted off our streets.

    We are going to get the roughly 1,700 known offenders responsible for a disproportionate amount of the city’s violent crime off the streets.

    And we are going to keep our streets safe by holding reckless drivers accountable. We are going to go to Albany to get legislation passed that increases the penalties for serious crashes, running red lights, and impaired driving.

    Our city cannot be livable unless it is clean and sustainable. So we are investing millions to make our city cleaner and greener.

    Last year we launched the country’s largest curbside composting program in Queens in order to Get Stuff Clean, and by the end of 2024, composting will be citywide and year-round. We are electrifying our city vehicles, and we have reached a deal with Uber and Lyft to have a zero emissions fleet by 2030.

    And we are going to build on the success of our Open Streets and Open Restaurants programs by creating permanent community spaces in each borough.

    We must have homes for working people. We are working to add 500,000 more homes across all five boroughs—so that everyone has an affordable place to live.  We are going to build in every borough and every neighborhood. And that means creating housing in areas that currently only allow manufacturing and office uses while protecting good jobs in the center of our city’s economy. We are going to make Midtown Manhattan a true live-work community. And we are building  more housing in high-opportunity neighborhoods and near transit hubs. I recently announced plans for 6,000 new homes and 10,000 new jobs around four new metro stations in the Bronx. And at Willets Point we’re working to build the largest new 100 percent affordable housing development in 40 years — that’s 2,500 new, affordable homes for New Yorkers.

    Building new houses is essential for our future, but we also need to address the housing crisis today. So we are going to protect tenants and help New Yorkers stay in their homes by investing over $22 million in tenant protection programs.

    We must also ensure that the social safety net is there for working people, so we are expanding it; making it easier for New Yorkers to access public benefits and healthcare. This is an agenda for working people.

    As we pursue these programs, we want to keep New Yorkers up to date on the very latest. That’s why we’re launching a new initiative to talk directly to New Yorkers about the issues you care most about.

    The post Community Op Ed: A Working People’s Agenda first appeared on VOSA.

    This post was originally published on VOSA.

  • Community Op-ed: Making New York Safer

    By Eric Adams (Mayor of New York City)

    New York: When I came to the office, I inherited a city with many crises, including increasing crime. And my top priority has always been public safety. From day one, I got to work with the Police Commissioner, our Deputy Mayor and our team to make our streets and subways safer.

    And our public safety strategy is working. New York City is getting safer. 2022 ended with crime trending downward in New York City. In December, we saw major crimes go down by 11.6 % and in the fourth quarter of 2022, overall index crime dropped by 1.5%.

    Last month, we saw murders, shootings, robberies, burglaries, grand larcenies, and hate crimes all going down. Our efforts — including taking 7,100 firearms and more than 400 ghost guns off our streets — are bringing gun violence down. What these numbers tell us is that we are turning the corner on crime in this city. And the results speak for themselves. New York City is back.

    You can see it and feel it across the five boroughs. Tourism is back at a roaring pace and subway ridership is at its highest since the pandemic started.

    Broadway attendance is at its highest since before the pandemic and our hotel occupancy is the highest amongst the top 25 markets. New Yorkers and visitors are flocking back to our city, with more than 62 million visitors expected to visit this year.

    Our city is well and truly back. But there is much more work to be done. We will not surrender to crime and violence in our city. We are going to make sure that these crime numbers continue to trend in the right direction. We are going to double down and continue to get ghost guns and illegal guns off our streets. We are going to protect our subways and transit stations with our police officers patrolling subway platforms and trains each day.

    And we are going to continue to invest in prevention through our Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, Crisis Management System, and our youth programs like Saturday Night Lights and the Summer Youth Employment program. We know that these programs work and that they keep our kids safe and away from gun violence. This is a major task to undertake, but our city is ready.

    And we are making progress. Safe communities are something that all New Yorkers deserve, and across all five boroughs we are building a city that is safe for everyone. A city that ensures working people have decent jobs, good health care, a roof over their heads, clean streets, and good schools. Public safety is the prerequisite to prosperity. Together, we are making sure that, in 2023, New York City remains the safest big city in America.

    The post Community Op-ed: Making New York Safer first appeared on VOSA.

    This post was originally published on VOSA.

  • Muharram and its Importance.

    Dr Sakhawat Hussain Sandralvi,

    Nation’s celebrates there calendar with joy and happiness, while the Muslim calendar begins with grief, sorrow and anguish.

    Year 61 A.H., in the hot desert of Karbala, the grandson of the Holy Prophet, along with relatives and friends, were slaughtered hungry and thirsty.

    Before the arrival of Muharram, preparations for mourning ceremonies and processions in memory of Imam Hussain (A.S.) begin all over the world.

    The budget spent on 10 days of Muharram cannot compete with the budget of big countries in the world.

    Nazar o Niaz on the name of Imam Hussain (A.S.) were distributed everywhere. Sabeels are established in memory of Karbala martyrs.

    No language on earth that does not commemorate the Prophet’s grandson Martyrdom.

    A large number of scholars, Zakirs, Marsiya Khuwa and mourners have gathered in different parts of the world to meet the demands of mourning.

    Attendance at mourning ceremonies at Imambargahs and Ashura Khanas is increasing from the 1st of Muharram till Sham e Ghariban.

    No one around the globe took name of dictator and tyrant Yazid while the love of the grandson of Prophet is rippling in the heart of every afflicted person.

    Corona virus has badly affects the humanity and from last two year Muharram commemorates with new requirements. In some western countries, blasphemy against our Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H.) through cartoons has affected the hearts of Muslims.

    A Wasim Rizvi ideology type person’s distorting the Qur’an and the publication of the modern Qur’an has created a gap in the Muslim Ummah.

    Muslims all over the world highlight’s the Islamic ideology of peace and to make the world aware of Karbala through their actions. Moharram processions fully un-veil the crimes of tyrant rulers like Yazid.

    To spread the universal principles of true Islam, mourning ceremonies of 10th Muharram are the best school for the guidance for Muslims. There is nothing in this institution except love.

    The damaged reputation of Muslims can be restored by keeping in sight the sacrificing of Karbala martyrs.

    The martyrs of Karbala draw a line between truth and falsehood, honor and disgrace, good and evil, and peace and terror.

    Today the Adhans of the mosques, Tawaf of the Ka’bah, survival of Islam and the word Tayyiba and the existence of Islam is the result of Karbala Martyrs.

    Claiming to avenge the slains of Badr, Yazid lost his battle forever. He desired personal projection while the Imam was advancing with sacred mission for survival of the religion.

    Before the beginning of Muharram, some peoples try to advocate for Yazid and on other end, terrorists sprayed bullets at mourners of Hussein (A.S.). It is the responsibility of the preachers and speakers until the 10th of Muharram to refrain from provocative speeches. Do not publish objectionable material in magazines and journals. Young generation adopt realistic sentiments.

    It is the duty of Government of Pakistan, during Muharram, law and order situation under control and maintained on priority. This is the best platform for Islamic unity because all sects participate in the processions of 10th Muharram.

    The grandson of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) left Madinah due to no massacre would be committed in Madinah.

    Imam changed the Ahram of Hajj to Umrah and moved away from the Ka’bah because some people came in the guise of pilgrims to kill Imam Hussain.

    During Muharram processions, the preparation of Imam Hussain’s caravan will be revealed; his loyal Awan and Ansar will be mention in Majalis and dhikr.

    The first person in the world to mourn the loss of Imam Aali Maqam was Sahabi Rasool (Urwa Ghaffari) whose hearing was so weak that he could not hear even the thunder of the clouds. According to his wife that on the night of the 28th Rajab, he sat up on his bed and said in amazement, “I can’t hear anything, but I feel that some women are crying.” His wife replied, “There are cries of the daughters of Ali (A.S.) because the family of the Prophet (Peace be up on him) is leaving Madinah.”

    The companion of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) is also saddened on hardships of Imam Hussain.

    The Prophet’s (P.B.U.H.) Companions role must be added with the dhikr of Imam Hussain because Yazid is not only the killer of Ahl e Bait but also the killer of the Companions.

    If Karbala was just a sad story it would not have lasted so long. It is the greatest university for human guidance. There is a curriculum for children from six months to ninety years old.

    The story that has been read and heard in the fourteenth century, it has a new vigor whenever it is repeated.

    Determination, sacrifice, faithfulness, courage and ability, passion and strength, jihad and reform, nobility and honesty, honor and dignity, and the connection between the Creator and the creatures, that zeal’s; boil up the ones blood and ones begins to understand religion.

    Every aspect of great martyrdom should be highlighted in Muharram processions. Karbala eliminates the distinction between black and white, Arabs and No Arabs, rich and poor

    From the pyramids of Egypt to Babylon and Neyneveh, Mohenjo-daro to Harappa and Taxila, from the Cave of the Kahf in Jordan to Tor and Nile, archeological history is spread, such rare events are not occurred on other place, like on the land of Karbala.

    During Muharram processions, Imam Hussain (the leader of Paradise youth) will be mentioned, the black slave John will also be remembered.

    In every Imam Bargah, a day is set aside for the remembrance of Hur, so that people may also realize the ark of repentance and greatness of the guest of few hours. Companions of the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H.), Hazrat Habib bin Mazahir, Muslim bin Awsjah, Zuhair Ibn Qayn is also specialy mentioned in Majalis.

    Remembrances of Wahab Kalbi newly converted to Islam. Obvious the dhikr of Sarkar Ghazi Abbas Ahlul Bayt highest position. Hazrat Ali Akbar, Hazrat Ali Asghar, Hazrat Aun and Muhammad, Hazrat Qasim, Hazrat Abda Ibn Hassan, Aqeel Alad, Jafar Tayyar etc. will be remembered in a special way. Aspects of the biography of martyrs like Barir Hamdani and Nafi’ah bin Hilal will be highlighted.

    In Karbala, the tyrant is tired of oppression, but Patience stand firm. I have seen people who do not mourn distribute Nazar. This is also a color of devotion.

    Martyrdom of Imam Hussein has changed mindsets, revolutionized thoughts, given life to nations, so Hussein’s grief is not specific to any religion or sect.

    Contrary, Zikr-e-Hussain is a practice in every religion and nation. Even among the jinn, the remembrance of Imam Hussain (AS) is very common. From downtowns in the US to the jungles of Africa, from the neighborhoods of churches in Europe to the vicinity of the mosques of the Holy Hijaz. From the pillows of the Turks and Persians to the Husseiniyats of Syria and the UAE, from the Aza Khanay of Iran to Iraq Hawair. From the royal Ashura Khanas of Hyderabad Deccan to the temporary tents of Sindh. From Canada’s snow-capped peaks to Sibi’s fiery valleys. From the ancient imambargahs of U.P. to the open imambardah of the Punjab, we have seen with our own eyes the scenes of remembrance of the martyrs of Karbala, that sometimes the voice of Ya Hussain is heard unconsciously.

    The people of Karbala taught us to follow the religion in unfavorable conditions. The media should spread the Imam’s ideology. The Hussaini women did not allow the incident of Karbala to be buried in the sands of Karbala. Similarly, our women participate in Majalis Hussain more than men. May God bless all the men and women.

    This year’s Muharram is bringing many challenges and the Muslim Ummah is in dire need of significant struggle during the days of Muharram.

    First of all, unity, reconciliation and forgiveness among the Ummah of Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) must be practiced. Instead of issuing fatwas on others, one has to look into own collar. The message of Karbala should not be limited to slogans, but their sacrifice should be used as a beacon to get rid of idolatry.

    This sacred institute must be seen as a source for collective, universal and religious interests rather than personal or familial, sectarian or regional interests.

    Thirdly, there must be a movement for justice for the oppressed people of Jerusalem, Kashmir, Yemen and Nigeria.The philosophy of Imam Hussein sacrifice and the martyrs of Karbala must be highlighted through social media, electronic and print media. The Institute of Karbala must be used to root out atheism, immorality, perversion, bigotry, immorality, slander, oppression and atheism.

    If the fragrance of Hussainiyyat spreads to all four corners of the world as Muharram is over and the stench of Yazidism disappears, then recognize that we have succeeded.

    The poet told the truth

    May love be created from the oppressed, may the traces of Yazidi be erased

    That is why your painful situations are told

    مظلوم سے الفت پیدا ہو آثار یزیدی مٹ جائیں

    اس واسطے تیرے درد بھرے حالات سنائے جاتے ہیں

    May Allah bless us in charity of Imam Hussain, the martyrs of Karbala and the captives of Kufa and Syria with the help of information and reformation from Karbala, and by eliminating contradictions and ego in our every words and deeds, may Lord, awaken the spirit of nearness to Allah.

    This prayer is from me and from the whole world. Amen

    This post was originally published on VOSA.

  • Neighbors Stake Out Positions After Deadly Kyrgyz-Tajik Border Conflict

    When hostilities broke out along the Kyrgyz-Tajik border at the end of April, many countries and organizations were quick to call for an end to the fighting and a peaceful resolution to the long-running border conflict.

    No one wanted to openly side with either Kyrgyzstan or Tajikistan, let alone comment on the violence that left more than 50 people dead.

    But in the days following an agreement between Kyrgyz and Tajik officials that halted the fighting, there have been hints of the positions of some leaders through their statements and actions.

    Tajik President Emomali Rahmon was fortunate to have accepted an invitation months ago to make an official visit to Moscow for the May 9 Victory Day celebrations. Rahmon was the only head of state to attend the Moscow ceremonies but the trip allowed him an opportunity to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 8 and again the next day during the parade on Red Square.

    Reports on the meetings of the two presidents did not mention any discussion of the April 28-30 fighting on the border, though Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said days earlier it would be on the agenda, and Putin had offered on April 30 to act as a mediator in the conflict.

    Where Moscow Stands

    Putin’s comments were interesting, as they seemed to indirectly address the problem between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

    The topic of Russia’s bases in Tajikistan, where Russia’s 201st Division has been stationed since shortly after the end of World War II, is a perennial whenever Putin and Rahmon meet and with U.S. and other foreign forces withdrawing from Afghanistan. Putin said Russia would “work on strengthening [the bases] and on strengthening the armed forces of Tajikistan.”

    The part about strengthening Tajikistan’s military was certainly noticed in Kyrgyzstan, even if Putin said the strengthening was needed because of increased fighting in Afghanistan. Though both sides in the border fighting took substantial losses, the casualty figures show that Kyrgyz took a worse beating in the fighting with the Tajiks.

    The Kremlin has made many statements about the need for stability in Kyrgyzstan, where Russia also has a military base and where there have been three revolutions since 2005.

    In July 2019, then-Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambaev met with Putin in Moscow. Atambaev was in the midst of a feud with his successor, President Sooronbai Jeenbekov, but despite technically being under house arrest, Atambaev left Kyrgyzstan on a plane that departed from the Russian military base in Kant.

    At the end of the meeting with Atambaev, Putin referred to the 2005 and 2010 revolutions in Kyrgyzstan: “Kyrgyzstan has endured several serious internal political shocks…at least two,” adding, “the country needs political stability.”

    Putin also said that as part of achieving stability, the people in Kyrgyzstan should “unite around the current president and help him in developing the state.”

    The feud between Atambaev and Jeenbekov did not end and barely two weeks later, elite troops of Kyrgyzstan’s Interior Ministry raided Atambaev’s compound outside Bishkek. After a deadly standoff, Atambaev surrendered and was eventually put in prison.

    Then in October 2020, protests over the results of rigged parliamentary elections ousted Jeenbekov. But Moscow’s relations with the new government of President Sadyr Japarov have been icy.

    Rahmon, on the other hand, has been in power in Tajikistan for nearly 29 years and, for the Kremlin, he represents stability in a country that borders Afghanistan. Russia has put a lot of effort and money into making Tajikistan a country that could hold the line against spillover from Afghanistan.

    However, in his meeting with Rahmon on May 8, Putin also spoke about Tajik migrant laborers in Russia. “I know this is a sensitive issue for Tajikistan,” he said. “A significant volume of support for the families [of migrant laborers] is sent from Russia back home [to Tajikistan].”

    That is true also for Kyrgyzstan. Hundreds of thousands of citizens of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan work in Russia and send money back to their families. Without these funds the economies of both countries would collapse, and the resulting economic decline would fuel social unrest.

    By promising to lend further help to Tajikistan’s military, Putin might be sending a message to Kyrgyz authorities to forget about any thoughts of renewing aggression along the border with Tajikistan, and by mentioning the billions of dollars migrant laborers send back, he sends a message to both countries about the potential leverage Russia can employ against Tajikistan — or Kyrgyzstan — if either side takes measures along their common border that destabilize the situation.

    Offering Condolences, Aid

    While the Kremlin needs to maintain some sort of balancing act, other countries do not. Again, no country or international organization has come out on the side of either Kyrgyzstan or Tajikistan. But some have sent messages of sympathy over losses from the fighting.

    Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev phoned President Japarov on May 1 to express his condolences to the victims of the fighting in the southern Batken Province, and to say Kazakhstan was ready to render humanitarian aid to Kyrgyzstan.

    Toqaev also spoke with Rahmon, who reportedly “informed [Toqaev] in detail” about the history of the border conflict and the current situation. Toqaev also offered to help mediate between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and is scheduled to visit Dushanbe on May 19-20.

    On May 4, Turkmen Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov phoned Kyrgyz counterpart Ruslan Kazakbaev to offer Turkmenistan’s condolences “to family and friends of the deceased citizens of Kyrgyzstan.”

    That same day, Armenian Foreign Minister Ara Ayvazyan phoned Kazakbekov with the same message. Ayvazyan also spoke with Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin on May 4, but reports did not mention if Ayvazyan expressed any condolences for Tajik losses.

    Japarov spoke with Putin on May 10 and the two reportedly discussed the recent fighting.

    Putin promised to provide humanitarian aid for Kyrgyzstan, but a phone call is not the same as two days of meetings in Moscow, even though many of the details of the Putin-Rahmon talks — particularly their discussion of the fighting along the border — remain unknown.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Deadly Border Conflict Promises To Change How Kyrgyz, Tajiks See One Another And Their Leaders

    The latest deadly clashes on the long-restive Kyrgyz-Tajik border drastically alter the situation there and change how the two countries see themselves and each other — with consequences for the leaders in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

    Previous violence along the border stretching back some 15 years was always localized, involving several villages on opposite sides of the poorly marked or unmarked sections of the frontier. The hostilities usually centered around work near water sources or the construction or alteration of roads, fences, and walls.

    The latest conflict on April 28 began much like previous conflicts did.

    A group of Tajiks were installing a camera at a water-intake station on Kyrgyz territory that distributed water to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.


    The events followed a familiar script: Harsh words were exchanged, people gathered from villages on both sides of the border, stones were thrown, border guards arrived, and gunfire broke out.

    Gunfire has become increasingly common in these disputes in recent years, but usually local officials from the two countries quickly arrive, calm the feuding villagers, and the groups go back to their sides of the border.

    But what began on April 28 went in a different direction.

    There was an exchange of gunfire early on April 29 in the area of the intake station. Each side blames the other for starting the shooting.

    Tajik forces then launched a coordinated attack along several sections of the border, many kilometers apart, and entered Kyrgyzstan.

    More than a dozen villages in Kyrgyzstan came under fire from a mix of machine guns, mortars, and even rockets.

    Tajik military helicopters were in the air near some of these villages, with Tajik authorities saying they were used to evacuate Tajik citizens from areas cut off from Tajikistan by the fighting. But photos from the Kyrgyz village of Ortoboz show rockets on the ground that could only come from attack helicopters.

    Kyrgyz forces counterattacked and some villages in Tajikistan came under heavy fire as well, with reports of some Kyrgyz troops also temporarily operating on Tajik territory.

    With the exception of isolated gunshots along the border, the fighting finally ended on April 30.

    But the casualties and the damage from the violence were unprecedented, with at least 36 Kyrgyz and 18 Tajik citizens killed, along with more than 200 injured. Additionally, dozens of homes, shops, and other structures were destroyed or damaged and tens of thousands of people were displaced.

    And accusations were flying from both sides about the wanton destruction carried out by the other country’s forces.

    Reports from the area indicate that the majority of the material losses were on the Kyrgyz side of the border.


    Homes, Schools Destroyed After Worst Violence In Decades On Kyrgyz-Tajik Border

    Homes, Schools Destroyed After Worst Violence In Decades On Kyrgyz-Tajik Border



    Photo Gallery:

    Homes, Schools Destroyed After Worst Violence In Decades On Kyrgyz-Tajik Border

    People inspected the charred remains of their homes, schools, and other buildings in villages on both sides of the Tajik-Kyrgyz border after deadly armed clashes along the frontier on April 28-29. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan completed the withdrawal of their military units from the border on May 3 as a cease-fire appeared to be holding.

    Both countries are preparing legal cases against the other over the violence, but little is likely to result from that.

    Despite their known problems, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are similar in some ways.

    Both are poor, mountainous countries that have roughly the same territory with comparable populations. There are about 6.5 million people in Kyrgyzstan and some 9.5 million in Tajikistan.

    Tajikistan also borders Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and China, while Kyrgyzstan also shares borders with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and China — all countries that are much larger, more populous, and far better armed than the small militaries in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

    These similarities give the countries reasons to work together and have good relations.

    But after this latest round of fighting, any kinship that existed has been lost as there are feelings among the Kyrgyz that Tajikistan has attacked Kyrgyzstan, inflicted losses, and that Kyrgyzstan did little to stop it.

    And that has angered many Kyrgyz citizens.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly warned Tajikistan not to repeat any aggression against Kyrgyzstan, but otherwise no foreign allies have publicly sided with Bishkek or Dushanbe in this dispute.

    Most messages of condolence from other countries have been directed toward Kyrgyzstan, though Bishkek cannot count on more than that, as questions are being raised about how the situation turned out so badly and who among government officials is to blame.

    Kamchybek Tashiev, the head of Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security, on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border on May 2


    Kamchybek Tashiev, the head of Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security, on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border on May 2

    On May 1, the head of Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security (UKMK), Kamchybek Tashiev, and his Tajik counterpart, Saymumin Yatimov, met in Kyrgyzstan’s border province of Batken and signed a deal cementing a cease-fire and withdrawing all forces back to their home bases.

    Tashiev is a longtime friend of new Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov; his appointment as head of the UKMK owes much to this relationship.

    Tashiev said on May 2 that Kyrgyzstan would not make any claims for compensation from Tajikistan for damage done to property in Kyrgyzstan. He added that an agreement on demarcating another 112 kilometers of the border would be ready by May 9.

    That would be welcome news, as the root of these violent conflicts are almost always related to a dispute over the shared border, with some 450 kilometers of the 970-kilometer Kyrgyz-Tajik frontier still not demarcated.

    But Tashiev has a recent history of prematurely declaring progress on border issues.

    After a visit to Uzbekistan in late March, he said the border issue with Uzbekistan was resolved “100 percent.” But that quickly fell apart when villagers on the Kyrgyz side of the border refused to accept proposed land swaps included in the agreement.

    Tashiev has also said there was information prior to the April 28-30 fighting that the border situation was worsening, suggesting he knew what could happen but did nothing to prevent it.

    Tashiev also failed to explain exactly why he left Kyrgyzstan on April 28. The trip was reportedly to seek medical treatment abroad, though some social-media comments suggested that he traveled to Spain, where his son celebrated a birthday.

    There could also be disappointment among Kyrgyz in the country’s new president.

    Japarov came to power with populist messages about a Kyrgyzstan that was going to be stronger, something that appealed to his many nationalist supporters.

    He has already appeared on state television appealing for calm and a return to good ties with Tajikistan, an indication that Kyrgyzstan is going to just have to accept what happened along the border and move on.

    Tajik President Emomali Rahmon visited the Vorukh exclave near the Kyrgyz border in early April.


    Tajik President Emomali Rahmon visited the Vorukh exclave near the Kyrgyz border in early April.

    It will not help that another rumor going around Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan is that Tajik President Emomali Rahmon initially refused to take Japarov’s phone calls after the fighting started.

    Japarov and other officials have also pledged to fund reconstruction in the region and to restore communities devastated by the violence. Already deeply in debt, it will be tricky for Japarov to keep this promise and still attend to the country’s arrears.

    It is difficult to see where Kyrgyz authorities will find funding to completely rebuild homes, gas stations, stores, schools, and other structures damaged or destroyed in the fighting. They also must compensate people for the loss of their livestock, something that has not yet been discussed.

    All of this comes as a host of other problems besets Kyrgyzstan, from growing unemployment and rising inflation to a drought and economic issues related to the coronavirus pandemic.

    Meanwhile, in Tajikistan, the unpopular autocratic president seems ready to gain from the latest outcome of the border battles in which his military appeared to act strongly.

    Rahmon has worked for years to crush independent media and opposition groups. In the process, his family has amassed a fortune in a country where the average monthly salary is less than $100.

    Furthermore, the nearly 70-year-old Rahmon has been grooming his oldest son, Rustam, to take over the presidency, hoping the succession will be accepted by Tajiks.

    The recent events along the border provided an unexpected moment of approval that could both ease and accelerate his move toward creating a dynasty in Tajikistan.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Majlis Podcast: From Gas Riches To Food Lines In Turkmenistan

    Turkmenistan has the fourth-largest reserves of natural gas in the world and many years ago was touted by its first president as being destined to become a second Kuwait.

    Turkmenistan has now become a country where people stand in long lines for rations of bread, dig through garbage for scraps and things they might possibly be able to sell, while the government celebrates horses and dogs.

    Turkmenistan’s economy has been in dire shape for more than half a decade now and the standard of living for the country’s people continues to drop.

    And recently, current President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov has been guiding his son Serdar up the hierarchy of the government leading to speculation the presidency will be passed from father to son and the mismanagement that characterizes the Turkmen government will continue for another generation.

    On this week’s Majlis Podcast, RFE/RL Media-Relations Manager Muhammad Tahir moderates a discussion that looks at the deterioration of Turkmenistan.

    This week’s guests are: from the Netherlands, Ruslan Myatiev, the head of the Turkmen.news website; from Prague, Farruh Yusupov, the director of RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service, known locally as Azatlyk; and Bruce Pannier, the author of RFE/RL’s Qishloq Ovozi blog.

    Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Majlis Podcast: From Gas Riches To Food Lines In Turkmenistan

    Turkmenistan has the fourth-largest reserves of natural gas in the world and many years ago was touted by its first president as being destined to become a second Kuwait.

    Turkmenistan has now become a country where people stand in long lines for rations of bread, dig through garbage for scraps and things they might possibly be able to sell, while the government celebrates horses and dogs.

    Turkmenistan’s economy has been in dire shape for more than half a decade now and the standard of living for the country’s people continues to drop.

    And recently, current President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov has been guiding his son Serdar up the hierarchy of the government leading to speculation the presidency will be passed from father to son and the mismanagement that characterizes the Turkmen government will continue for another generation.

    On this week’s Majlis Podcast, RFE/RL Media-Relations Manager Muhammad Tahir moderates a discussion that looks at the deterioration of Turkmenistan.

    This week’s guests are: from the Netherlands, Ruslan Myatiev, the head of the Turkmen.news website; from Prague, Farruh Yusupov, the director of RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service, known locally as Azatlyk; and Bruce Pannier, the author of RFE/RL’s Qishloq Ovozi blog.

    Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Uzbek, Tajik, And Kyrgyz Governors Hold Landmark Forum In Ferghana Valley

    A meeting occurred in Central Asia on April 23 that hasn’t ever happened before.

    The governor of Uzbekistan’s eastern Ferghana Province met with the Tajik and Kyrgyz governors of the adjoining provinces for talks on economic cooperation.

    Hosted in the city of Ferghana by Hayrullo Bozorov, the meeting was attended by the governor of Tajikistan’s Sughd Province, Rajabboi Ahmadzoda, and the governor of Kyrgyzstan’s Batken Province, Omurbek Suvanaliev.

    Nearly 30 years after the three countries became independent, the meeting marked the first time the heads of the three neighboring provinces had ever gathered for such a meeting.

    The three provinces are all in the populous Ferghana Valley, an agriculturally rich area that has also become a major smuggling route and, since independence, has seen more deadly violence along its borders than any other area in Central Asia.

    And one of the interesting aspects of the business forum, officially called Integration Of Borders – The Key To Development, is that it was purely about trade and cultural relations, not border demarcation.

    Batken Province Governor Omurbek Suvanaliev (file photo)


    Batken Province Governor Omurbek Suvanaliev (file photo)

    Suvanaliev told RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service, known locally as Azattyk, that although “the matter of defining the borders is being decided, it is necessary for us also to strengthen economic ties.”

    And he made clear that the vital demarcation of the three countries’ borders “is the work of intergovernmental delegations.”

    All three governors were accompanied by delegations from local industrial and agricultural businesses and there was also an exhibit of their products.

    The only document reportedly signed was a memorandum of cooperation between the Ferghana and Sughd provinces.

    It was ironic that the venue for the landmark business forum was the Islam Karimov Theater.

    Late Uzbek President Islam Karimov


    Late Uzbek President Islam Karimov

    While Karimov was Uzbekistan’s first president, his country set up long barbed-wire fences and dug ditches along extensive stretches of its borders with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. During incursions by Islamic militants in the summer of 2000, Uzbekistan even put land mines at places along its borders with its two eastern neighbors.

    When Karimov died late in the summer of 2016, Uzbek troops were occupying some areas of Kyrgyzstan.

    His successor, Shavkat Mirziyoev, removed those troops as one of his first moves after becoming Uzbekistan’s leader.

    Mirziyoev also reversed Karimov’s policies toward Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and visits by Uzbek officials and business delegations to the neighboring countries are a common occurrence now.

    Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev visiting Ferghana Valley last year.


    Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev visiting Ferghana Valley last year.

    Those meetings have gone a long way towards improving Uzbekistan’s relations with its two neighbors.

    The business forum in Ferghana took this new spirit of cooperation a step further by bringing together the representatives of the three countries that share the fertile Ferghana Valley region.

    Though the forum did not result in the signing of large amounts of contracts, the big achievement was the meeting itself.

    Though there has been some progress in demarcating and marking the borders in the region despite difficult negotiations, the process is likely to continue to be problematic in the years to come as territory is exchanged and people’s property affected.

    While border negotiations continue, there is no reason why three of the areas involved in these talks should not move forward by improving economic ties.

    The Ferghana business forum was the first step.

    And a better economic situation locally should make all three parties more amenable to compromises in their future border negotiations.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Majlis Podcast: The Threat To Religious Freedom In Central Asia

    The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) just released its annual report that named Tajikistan and Turkmenistan as “countries of particular concern” and recommended Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan be placed on the U.S. State Department’s Special Watch List, a list Uzbekistan was removed from in December 2020.

    Governments in Central Asia have worked since independence to increase control over religion in their countries and many groups and members of different faiths have been persecuted and denied registration. Some believers have been imprisoned, particularly Muslims, whom the governments of these countries seem to fear the most.

    On this week’s Majlis podcast, RFE/RL Media-Relations Manager Muhammad Tahir moderates a discussion about religious freedom and the lack thereof in Central Asia.

    This week’s guests are: from Washington, Nury Turkel, commissioner at the USCIRF and also a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute; from Oslo, Norway, Felix Corley, the editor of the Forum 18 News Service, an agency monitoring religious freedom in the former Soviet republics and Eastern Europe; from Warsaw, Poland, Muhamadjon Kabirov, the president of the Foundation for Intercultural Integration, the chief editor at Azda TV, and formerly the personal assistant of the chairman of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikstan; and Bruce Pannier, the author of RFE/RL’s Qishloq Ovozi blog.

    Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Majlis Podcast: The Threat To Religious Freedom In Central Asia

    The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) just released its annual report that named Tajikistan and Turkmenistan as “countries of particular concern” and recommended Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan be placed on the U.S. State Department’s Special Watch List, a list Uzbekistan was removed from in December 2020.

    Governments in Central Asia have worked since independence to increase control over religion in their countries and many groups and members of different faiths have been persecuted and denied registration. Some believers have been imprisoned, particularly Muslims, whom the governments of these countries seem to fear the most.

    On this week’s Majlis podcast, RFE/RL Media-Relations Manager Muhammad Tahir moderates a discussion about religious freedom and the lack thereof in Central Asia.

    This week’s guests are: from Washington, Nury Turkel, commissioner at the USCIRF and also a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute; from Oslo, Norway, Felix Corley, the editor of the Forum 18 News Service, an agency monitoring religious freedom in the former Soviet republics and Eastern Europe; from Warsaw, Poland, Muhamadjon Kabirov, the president of the Foundation for Intercultural Integration, the chief editor at Azda TV, and formerly the personal assistant of the chairman of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikstan; and Bruce Pannier, the author of RFE/RL’s Qishloq Ovozi blog.

    Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Live Blog: Putin’s Annual State-Of-The-Nation Address

    Plenty To Talk About As Putin Prepares For Annual Address To Parliament

    By RFE/RL

    Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to give his 17th annual state-of-the-nation address to a joint session of the Russian parliament in Moscow on April 21 amid a slew of crises both at home and abroad.

    Internationally, the address comes at a time of heightened tensions between Russia and the West, a simmering conflict in eastern Ukraine, and unrest in neighboring Belarus following a disputed presidential election last August.

    Domestically, Putin will speak live to the nation just hours before supporters of imprisoned opposition leader Aleksei Navalny gather for mass protests to demand the anti-corruption campaigner be given independent medical care, as well as amid preparations for legislative elections to be held before September 19 and the continued economic and social fallout from the global coronavirus pandemic.

    On the eve of the speech, U.S. Ambassador to Moscow John Sullivan announced he would return to the United States for consultations, just days after Washington imposed a fresh batch of sanctions on Russia for its alleged cyberattacks on the United States and interference in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.

    Russia has also ramped up its military capabilities along its border with Ukraine and in and around the annexed Ukrainian Black Sea region of Crimea. Since 2014, Russia has provided military, economic, and political support to separatist formations in parts of eastern Ukraine that are waging war against Kyiv. Tensions have been on the rise in recent weeks, with sporadic fighting breaking out and the peace process remaining stalled.

    Meanwhile, police raided several regional offices of Navalny’s organizations in anticipation of the protests scheduled for the evening of April 21. Navalny has been on a hunger strike for more than three weeks, demanding that he be seen by his own doctors. Prison authorities transferred him on April 19 to a prison with a hospital, despite saying that his health was “satisfactory.”

    Russia is preparing for elections to the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, with the ruling United Russia party facing historically low popularity ratings. In recent weeks, the authorities have cracked down on dissent in what many analysts see as a bid to strictly control the election process and outcome.

    In the past, Putin has sometimes used the speech to put forward significant policy moves. Last year, he announced preparations for a raft of constitutional amendments that ended up including one that makes it possible for him to remain president until 2036. Shortly after the speech, then-Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and the cabinet resigned, and former Federal Tax Service head Mikhail Mishustin was tapped to replace him.

    In 2018, Putin gave a lavish, high-tech presentation that included video presentations of several advanced weapons systems, including an intercontinental ballistic missile, a nuclear-powered cruise missile, an unmanned nuclear-powered underwater drone, and the Kinzhal hypersonic missile system.

    Putin’s speech is scheduled to begin at noon local time in Moscow. In addition to members of both chambers of parliament, the audience will include the prime minister, the cabinet, senior judges, military and security officials, senior leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church and other major religious groups, and other guests. According to TASS, some 450 journalists have been accredited to cover the events.

    Putin, a 68-year-old former KGB officer, has led Russia as president or prime minister since 1999.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Majlis Podcast: Why Can’t Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan Effectively Combat Gender Violence?

    On April 5, a 27-year-old Kyrgyz woman named Aizada Kanatbekova was kidnapped in broad daylight by three men in Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek.

    The kidnapping was caught on CCTV. Kanatbekova’s family quickly phoned police. And yet almost nothing was done to find her. Two days later, Kanatbekova and her abductor were found dead: she from strangulation and he from suicide, in a car outside of Bishkek.

    Days later, a group of women in Bishkek demonstrated against gender violence, only to have their rally broken up by a group of violent men.

    A few days earlier, on April 1, the body of 19-year-old Muhlisa Adambaeva was found in Uzbekistan’s western Khorezm Province. She had hanged herself after being beaten by her husband and mistreated by her husband’s family.

    Kanatbekova’s attacker had a history of violence that was known to police. And many people knew what Adambaeva had been going through, but local traditions prevented anyone, including her’s immediate family, from intervening.

    On this week’s Majlis podcast, RFE/RL media-relations manager Muhammad Tahir moderates a discussion about gender violence in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, and why officials in those two countries seem unable to effectively combat it.

    This week’s guests are: from Kyrgyzstan, Kamila Eshaliyeva, a Bishkek-based journalist and author of a recent report about violence against women in Kyrgyzstan; from Uzbekistan, Samrin Mamedova of the NeMolchi.uz organization, which works to end violence against women in Uzbekistan; and Bruce Pannier, the author of the Qishloq Ovozi blog.

    Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Kyrgyzstan’s Hydropower Problems Causing Concern In Neighboring Nations

    Any farmer can explain the problems that come with being dependent on generous rain clouds to water the crops.

    It seems there is often either too little or too much.

    Many people in Kyrgyzstan are about to face the consequences of too little water. In a country where 90 percent of the electricity is generated by hydropower facilities, the problems caused by a long drought do not end in the farmers’ fields but could extend to neighboring countries.

    Kyrgyzstan’s Toktogul hydropower plant (HPP) was opened in 1975, during the Soviet era. It took some 15 years to prepare the massive reservoir and fill it before the four 300 megawatt (MW) units could start producing energy.

    It was one of the earliest attempts to tap into Kyrgyzstan’s hydropower potential, which even today is only being used at 10 percent of its capability.

    The plant has suffered several problems in recent years associated with its aging equipment.

    In December 2015, one of the turbines shut down and, in less than a week, three of the four units had stopped functioning, forcing authorities to ration electricity during the coldest part of winter. The HPP is currently undergoing renovation work that aims to replace or rehabilitate the old equipment and bring the total output up to 1440 MW.

    While the Toktogul reservoir is a source of domestic power for Kyrgyzstan, its water is needed in two other countries.


    While the Toktogul reservoir is a source of domestic power for Kyrgyzstan, its water is needed in two other countries.

    The Toktogul reservoir is in the western Kementub Valley, along the Naryn River that eventually flows into Uzbekistan and merges into one of the two great rivers of Central Asia, the Syr Darya (the other is the Amu Darya), before snaking into Kazakhstan.

    The Toktogul HPP provides some 40 percent of Kyrgyzstan’s electricity, but the water level at the reservoir has been falling in recent years, which will soon result in the reduction and maybe the suspension of operations.

    In August 2017, the reservoir was filled to the maximum, with 19.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) of water. But on March 30, 2021, Kyrgyz Energy Minister Kubanychbek Turdubaev said the level had dropped to 8.7 bcm.

    The new leadership in Kyrgyzstan has been promising to decrease the country’s debt and any additional financial burden is especially unwelcome at the moment.

    Turdubaev called 8.5 bcm the “critical level” where the operation of the Toktagul HPP would be affected. The water level might reach this critical level very soon, judging by the rate it is falling.

    On March 22, Kyrgyzstan’s main electricity provider, Elektricheskiye Stantsii, said the water level at Toktogul was 8.83 bcm.

    Turdubaev noted that the amount of water spilling out of the reservoir has exceeded the amount coming into it for several years and “every year the volume of water is decreasing by 1.5-1.8 bcm.”

    The simplest way to correct the problem would be to close the spillways out of the reservoir for brief periods and allow water to accumulate. But while Toktogul is a source of domestic power for Kyrgyzstan, its water is needed in two other countries.

    Some 80 percent of the water that leaves the Toktogul reservoir goes into Uzbekistan, where it joins the Syr Darya.

    This water is desperately needed for agriculture in both of the downstream countries. Kazakhstan has promised to send up to 1 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity exports, with Uzbekistan offering 750 million kWh to help Kyrgyzstan with its power problem.

    The idea is that this will allow Kyrgyzstan to cut back on the water used for the Toktogul HPP. All three parties seem to be counting on melting snow and spring rain to raise the water level at Toktogul, though there is no guarantee this will happen.

    Toktogul

    Toktogul

    In the meantime, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan also want to ensure sufficient water from the reservoir for this year’s crops.

    As for electricity imports, there was reportedly a deal with Uzbekistan for a swap, whereby Uzbekistan will export electricity to Kyrgyzstan from March to October and again in March and April next year.

    In return, Kyrgyzstan has pledged to send electricity to Uzbekistan during the June-August period for 2021-2023. But Turdubaev indicated Kyrgyzstan will have to pay both countries for electricity imports and said his cash-strapped country cannot immediately make those payments.

    “We explained the situation to them and asked for [electricity supplies] on credit,” Turdubaev said.

    Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have pledged to charge low rates for the electricity, but the new leadership in Kyrgyzstan has been promising to decrease the country’s debt and any additional financial burden is especially unwelcome at the moment.

    Besides that, electricity imports from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan will not be enough to cover the shortfall from the low water level at the Toktogul HPP.

    Turdubaev said other power plants that normally reduce their output during the warm months when HPPs operate will have to keep operating at or near winter capacity, and he specifically named the Bishkek thermal power plant (TPP).

    The coal-burning Bishkek TPP is thought to be a major contributor to air pollution in the Kyrgyz capital, which at times during this winter had some of the worst air pollution of any major city in the world.

    This year, the summer skies above Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek, might be even browner than usual.


    This year, the summer skies above Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek, might be even browner than usual.

    The clean electricity produced by Toktogul helps ease pollution problems in Bishkek and other areas of Kyrgyzstan during the warmer months of the year, but this year the summer skies above Kyrgyzstan’s capital might be even browner than usual.

    Longer term, the current drought is something Kyrgyzstan needs to consider in its grand plans to become an electricity exporter. Kyrgyzstan has exported electricity to its immediate neighbors during years when there was sufficient water for all of the country’s HPPs.

    But the country has much bigger plans.

    President Sadyr Japarov attended a ceremony in Kyrgyzstan’s southern village of Kara-Bulak on April 3 to launch construction of the first high-voltage power transmission line for the Central Asia-South Asia project, better known as CASA-1000.

    CASA-1000 aims to bring some 1,300 MW of surplus electricity generated during the summer months from HPPs in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Afghanistan (300 MW) and Pakistan (1000 MW). The project is tentatively due to launch in 2023.

    But the current situation at the Toktogul reservoir is a reminder that the water needed to operate HPPs is not guaranteed to be constant. Some in Kyrgyzstan have also noted domestic demand for power is growing in the country and that that should be satisfied before any electricity is exported.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Does The New Kyrgyz Constitution Set The Country Up For Future Unrest?

    The controversial new constitution that returns Kyrgyzstan to a presidential form of government has been approved in a nationwide referendum, but almost everything surrounding the document suggests it may live a short life in a country that has had three revolutions in 16 years.

    Central Election Commission (CEC) Chairwoman Nurzhan Shayldabekova said on April 12 that 79.3 percent of those who cast ballots in the referendum — some 1.03 million people — voted in favor of the new constitution, with just 13.65 percent voting against it.

    Kyrgyzstan has some 6.5 million citizens, so it is possible to question whether the approval of this new constitution represents the will of the people when less than 1-in-6 citizens voted for it.

    Only 30 percent of Kyrgyzstan’s eligible voters needed to participate for the April 11 referendum to be declared legitimate. Preliminary results show some 37.1 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots in the poll, as local elections and the referendum were held simultaneously.

    That is slightly less than the approximately 39 percent who turned out for the January 10 election in which voters chose a new president and decided to hold the constitutional referendum.

    Some 1.35 million people cast ballots in January, with 81.44 percent — about 1.1 million people — voting in favor of holding the referendum.

    But controversy surrounded the new constitution from the very beginning.

    Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov and his wife, Aigul Asanbaeva, cast their ballots at a polling station in Bishkek.


    Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov and his wife, Aigul Asanbaeva, cast their ballots at a polling station in Bishkek.

    Shortly after being freed from jail by a mob during the unrest that followed the fraudulent October 4 parliamentary elections, Sadyr Japarov — who was subsequently elected president in January — suggested changing the semi-parliamentary form of government that Kyrgyzstan has had since 2010 to a presidential one under a new constitution.

    The newly approved constitution is very similar to what Kyrgyzstan had under former Presidents Askar Akaev and Kurmanbek Bakiev, both of whom were chased from power partly due to amendments to the constitution that gave them more power.

    Japarov and others argued that the 2010 constitution, which was also adopted in a referendum, created a parliament filled with deputies who bought their seats and mainly bickered, accomplishing very little.

    The October 4 polls were eventually annulled after large demonstrations. With their mandates expiring and no replacement elections scheduled, the parliamentary deputies who were elected in 2015 voted to extend their mandates, which were to expire on October 28.

    Many legal experts say that action puts into question every decision this parliament has made since its term was extended.

    The same parliament then passed the draft of the new constitution on all three readings in December over the course of a few days, which violated the constitution that was still in effect.

    Several changes were also made to the draft constitution after it had been approved by parliament, which many of its detractors note.

    Furthermore, the decision in late November to form a Constitutional Chamber and the subsequent selection of its 89 members has also been called into question.

    Many also wonder how much, if any, of the public’s opinion played a role in drafting the new constitution, which was also supposed to be put up for public discussion before it was approved by parliament. But that was not done.

    That is in great contrast to the 2010 constitution, which civil society and other public groups contributed to during the drafting stage.

    WATCH: October’s Upheaval In Kyrgyzstan Followed Two Revolutions This Century

    Polls conducted in the days leading up to the April 11 referendum indicated most people did not know very much about the changes contained in the new constitution.

    Fresh parliamentary elections that were originally scheduled to be held just days after the October 4 elections were later postponed.

    It now seems new parliamentary elections will take place no sooner than this summer, which is strange since it was the popular resistance to the October 4 parliamentary elections that started Kyrgyzstan down its current path that led to the new constitution being approved.

    Parliament loses many of its powers under the constitution approved on April 11, which also reduces the number of seats in the body from 120 to 90.

    It is not difficult to see that there is ample ground for people to question the legitimacy of this new constitution, something Kyrgyz citizens could do if the become dissatisfied with the new president and his government.

    Opponents of the new constitution will say that the constitution was pushed through by a leader who was in prison until October 4; drafted by a group that the public had no role in appointing; approved by a parliament whose mandate had expired; altered after that approval; and endorsed by less than 16 percent of the country’s population in a referendum.

    In 2005, 2010, and 2020, such dissatisfaction led to the ousting of the country’s leaders.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Majlis Podcast: Uzbekistan In The Spotlight For The Wrong Reasons

    Since 2016, when Uzbekistan’s first president, Islam Karimov, died, the authorities have been working to change the image the country inherited from Karimov as a chronic rights abuser.

    There have been some signs of progress but starting in late February, things began to fall apart.

    A group trying to register as an opposition party was harassed and some of its members attacked; activists trying to form the country’s first independent labor union came under pressure; calls for changing laws against the LGBT community were flatly rejected and met with violence; and a new law was introduced making it a crime for bloggers and others to insult the honor of President Shavkat Mirziyoev on the Internet, less than half a year before he is due to run for reelection.

    On this week’s Majlis Podcast, RFE/RL media-relations manager Muhammad Tahir moderates a discussion on the regression in Uzbekistan’s declared domestic reforms.

    This week’s guests are: from Uzbekistan, Dilfuza Kurolova, human rights lawyer and founding curator of Global Shapers’ Tashkent Hub; also from Uzbekistan, Dilmira Matyakubowa, co-director of Uzinvestigations and a fellow at the London-based Foreign Policy Center; veteran Central Asia watcher Steve Swerdlow, who is a rights lawyer and currently associate professor of the practice of human rights at the University of Southern California; and Bruce Pannier, the author of the Qishloq Ovozi blog.

    Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Currency Collapse Mirrors Turkmenistan’s Extreme Economic Woes

    When the exchange rate of Turkmenistan’s national currency, the manat, fell to 40 to the dollar on the black market on April 3, it was more than 11 times the long-standing official rate of 3.5 manats per dollar.

    It was also an all-time low for the troubled Central Asian country’s beleaguered currency.

    The manat’s weak rate on the black market — reported by RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service (known locally as Azatlyk) — parallels the dire economic situation in Turkmenistan — a situation that has severely deteriorated compared to January 2015, when the government originally devalued the manat from 2.85 to 3.5 to the dollar, but also gotten noticeably worse this year.

    The exchange rate on March 26 was between 33 to 33.5 manats, so in roughly one week it had lost more than 20 percent of its value on the black market, an exchange rate that is generally seen as a far more accurate reflection of the manat’s real value.

    It is illegal to trade money on the black market in Turkmenistan and during the last few years government restrictions have made it increasingly more difficult to acquire hard currency.

    Despite The Resources…

    Turkmenistan is rich in natural gas, with the fourth-largest reserves in the world, and has a relatively small population generously estimated to amount to 6 million people.

    But Turkmen authorities put too much faith in the sale of gas as a reliable source of revenue for the country and discovered too late that simply having the gas does not guarantee a bright financial future: it still has to be effectively exploited and sold.

    Officially, the government says the average monthly salary in the country is 1,200 to 1,400 manats ($350-$400 at the official rate), which would make it one of the highest in all of Central Asia, behind only Kazakhstan. But that’s at the artificial official exchange rate that hasn’t changed in more than six years. Instead, Turkmen are among the poorest people in the region.

    The government offers many basic goods at subsidized prices in state stores, which should make it easier for people to buy enough food.

    Explosion In Food Prices

    But on February 25 the cost of sugar in state stores suddenly increased from seven to nine manats per kilogram. Cooking oil went from 13 to 19 manats and chicken legs from 10 to 16 manats per kilogram.

    Those lower, subsidized prices were in place for several years, going back to when the black-market rate was about 4 manats to the dollar. The sudden, sharp inflation in prices was a shock to many who have seen other unexplained price increases in recent years.

    Such food staples are also usually available in private stores where sugar, for example, reportedly sells for about 23 manats per kilogram, which is difficult for many Turkmen to afford. And the high inflation in recent weeks has hit virtually all food staples in the country.

    People line up outside a grocery in the Lebap region.


    People line up outside a grocery in the Lebap region.

    The Turkmen.news website reported on March 23 that the price of 1 kilogram of beef at private stores in Mary Province was 75 manats, in Turkmenabad — the provincial capital of the eastern Lebap Province — the price was 70 manats. In the western Balkan Province, beef cost 65 manats, and in the northern Dashoguz Province a kilogram cost between 55 and 60 manats.

    Turkmen.news reported on February 1 that two bazaars in the capital, Ashgabat, appeared to be out of potatoes, which usually sell for a state-regulated price of between 15 to 17 manats per kilogram.

    Such outages are no longer unusual in Turkmenistan, as people have learned to go without certain foods for periods of time. But Turkmen.news added that merchants kept potatoes behind the counter that they were willing to sell in unlimited quantities for 25 manats per kilo.

    Since January 12, state stores in Mary Province have required customers to show documents that prove the number of family members before selling them bread. In order to obtain such documents, people had to go to their local administrations, where officials demanded that all utility bills were paid before issuing the necessary documents.

    Residents of the eastern city of Turkmenabat wait to buy flour from state shops.


    Residents of the eastern city of Turkmenabat wait to buy flour from state shops.

    In Lebap Province in late January, state stores were reportedly limiting customers to two loaves of bread per family, per visit.

    Azatlyk reported in early April that state stores in Ashgabat were out of flour and often had no bread, with some state stores in Mary Province having no bread for sale for three weeks at a time.

    Long, Long Lines

    Lines have formed outside many state stores in recent years, especially those selling bread, which begin hours before the shops open, as people who cannot afford to buy at private stores try to purchase subsidized goods before they run out.

    Even before the long lines for food, there were queues snaking out from automated bank machines, the only place people can get cash using their bank cards. Unfortunately, just as with the goods at state stores, there is a very limited supply of money that usually runs out quickly, with strict limits placed on the amount one person is allowed to withdraw.

    The authorities tried years ago to transform Turkmenistan into a cashless society, but many stores and nearly all bazaars still don’t have the equipment needed to conduct transactions using bank cards.

    People wait for an ATM to start working in Baharden in August 2020.


    People wait for an ATM to start working in Baharden in August 2020.

    None of the shortages and associated lines for scarce goods existed in Turkmenistan before 2015 and they appear to concern the authorities. Police routinely disperse people forming lines and generally discourage citizens from waiting in them.

    Officials never provide unemployment figures, but several analysts believe it was at least 50 percent of the workforce before the economic problems started six year ago and, after dismissals and layoffs in recent years due to the ailing economy, the unemployment rate is thought to be much higher.

    Garbage Picking To Survive

    Some people are now so poor that they have resorted to rummaging through garbage in the hopes of finding food scraps or something that might be sold for small change, like paper or plastic that can be recycled.

    Such activity would have been unthinkable just two or three years ago.

    Azatlyk reported in January that in the city of Mary, women and children are increasingly seen digging through the trash or, in some cases, intercepting people about to dump their garbage and asking if they can have it with the promise they will properly dispose of everything they do not take.

    A woman picks through garbage cans in Ashgabat.


    A woman picks through garbage cans in Ashgabat.

    By March, police in Mary seemed to have accepted that they could not hold back the tide and, according to Azatlyk, lectured people digging through the trash, photographed them, and took down their personal details. Some even advised people searching through garbage to buy vests like city workers wear to be less conspicuous.

    Azatlyk also reported an increase in the number of children with water buckets and towels waiting along roadsides to wash stopped cars in the hope of receiving small change in return.

    An Azatlyk correspondent noted that there were children of kindergarten age who, when asked why they were not in school, replied that they had never gone to kindergarten. Some older siblings explained that their families did not have the money needed to send them to school.

    One 12-year-old girl said she and others “go every day to the Green Bazaar and beg for money. Last week police chased us away and yelled at our mom.”

    “They told [our mother] that if they ever saw us again they would put us in a jail for minors…and [she] told them to put us in jail and her too, because at least we would be fed in jail,” the girl continued.

    No Virus Here

    The global spread of the coronavirus has only made the economic situation in Turkmenistan worse, compounded by the government’s laughable insistence that the virus has not infected a single person in the country.

    Though a national vaccination program has recently started, officials have taken few real measures to protect the population from COVID-19.

    Nonetheless, medical workers have quietly and without any special recognition continued to carry out their duties that included the increasing hospitalization of patients.

    Some health-care workers expected they might receive some compensation for their difficult, longer work, and for staying quiet about those with coronavirus-like symptoms in their care. Instead, their salaries were reportedly cut by almost 20 percent at the start of 2021.

    Despite the grim first months of this year, authoritarian President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov and his government have continued to do what they have been doing since economic problems started to bite in 2015: claim that the country’s economy is forging ahead and drawing their attention somewhere else, often something insipid.

    For example, Berdymukhammedov in recent weeks has been checking up on preparations for upcoming beauty contests — for horses and the Turkmen alabai dog. Both competitions are scheduled for late April, with state employees being forced to volunteer their time and donate money from their salaries for the events.

    Diminishing Value

    Tracking the value of the “gift” the president gives women every year to mark International Women’s Day on March 8 is a monitor of how bad the manat is doing on the black market.

    In 2015, Berdymukhammedov presented each woman in the country with 40 manats, about $11.50 at the official rate and, in 2015, it would have still been worth more than $10 on the black market.

    In 2016, the same 40 manats would have traded for about $8 on the black market.

    In 2017, 40 manats was worth about $6. A year later it would get you about $3.

    The president decided in 2019 to increase the International Women’s Day gift to 60 manats, about $17 at the official rate, but only $3.5 on the black market then.

    Last year, 60 manats on Women’s Day was worth about $3 on the black market and this year it was not quite $2 and, by month’s end, was closer to $1.5.

    In October 2020, the government increased the minimum monthly wage to 957 manats, which at the black-market rate as of April 3 this year is some $24.

    For those making the official monthly 1,400-manat average salary, it is worth about $35, which would make Turkmen the poorest people in Central Asia.

    Radio Azatlyk contributed to this report

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Respected Activist Who Helped Migrants In Russia Is Forcibly Deported To Tajikistan

    Forty-eight-year-old Izzat Amon has spent half his life helping Tajik migrant laborers in Russia.

    On March 25, Russian authorities detained Amon and forcibly returned him to Tajikistan, where he faces charges of fraud in connection to his work in Moscow.

    In a hastily convened hearing before his deportation, a Russian court also deprived him of his Russian citizenship

    Amon is not the first Tajik to be apprehended in Russia and sent back to Tajikistan. But his case differs from others.

    Amon is not a member of a Tajik opposition party, although he did recently criticize Tajikistan’s government.

    Amon’s case illustrates that under authoritarian Tajik President Emomali Rahmon’s rule, any civic or legal activism independent of his government’s control is viewed as an existential threat.”

    In Moscow, Amon offered the sorts of services to Tajik migrant laborers that even Tajik officials say are needed. Also known as Izzat Kholov, Amon has lived in Russia since 1996, when he obtained his Russian citizenship.

    In 2000, he moved to Moscow and helped establish the Center for Tajiks of Moscow — an organization that has helped Tajik citizens properly register with Russian authorities, as well as to find places to live and work. Amon’s organization has also helped Tajiks facing legal issues in Russia.

    Amon has publicly chided Tajik authorities for failing to sufficiently press Russia on the issue of rights abuses against Tajik migrant laborers.

    Steve Swerdlow, an attorney and associate professor of human rights at the University of Southern California, has closely followed crackdowns against the rights of Central Asians in Russia. He says Tajik migrant laborers “are among the most vulnerable people in Russia.”

    Judging by the number of reports of Tajik nationals who’ve been beaten and even killed in Russia, it is difficult to dispute his conclusion.

    Swerdlow says the targeting of Amon by Tajik and Russian authorities violates several binding international human rights commitments made by each country. That includes a prohibition on returning a person to a country where they are likely to face torture, as well as arbitrarily depriving an individual of their citizenship.

    But Amon’s case also reflects the extent to which Tajikistan’s rights crisis has worsened during the past several years.

    “Known in Moscow’s human rights community primarily as an advocate for Tajik migrants’ rights, Amon is far from the typical opposition figure Dushanbe has been accustomed to targeting,” Swerdlow says. “His case illustrates that under authoritarian President Emomali Rahmon’s rule, any civic or legal activism independent of his government’s control is viewed as an existential threat.”

    Amon has worked for more than two decades with Russian authorities to help Tajiks migrants, who number in the hundreds of thousands. He has a reputation as a person who solves problems.

    His understanding of Russia’s system for migrant laborers cannot be easily replicated. Amon’s forced return to Tajikistan will leave a vacuum for many Tajiks trying to navigate Russian laws and regulations.

    In fact, it may have been Amon’s popularity among migrants that worried authorities back in Tajikistan.

    In 2019, Amon briefly contemplated forming a new political party called Changes, Reforms, And Progress. He’d planned to court voters among migrant laborers with an eye on being elected to parliament and representing their interests there.

    Amon released a video in which he said Tajik migrants “have been outside the government…and have had no influence. We wanted to participate in the further political reconciliation of our country by establishing a party.”

    Amon also said: “We who have provided 70 percent of the country’s budget for 30 years [through remittances] must unite and bring about radical changes in the country.”

    But Amon abandoned the idea of forming a political party due to a requirement in Tajikistan’s election laws that says candidates must reside in the country for at least 10 years prior to elections.

    Tajik authorities were displeased with Amon in 2006 when he resisted an effort by then-Tajik Ambassador to Russia Abdulmajid Dostiev to bring all Tajik migrant and diaspora organizations in Russia under one umbrella. Amon and another leader of a Tajik migrant group, Karomat Sharifov, refused to join. Sharifov was the head of the Tajik Labor Migrants organization in Russia.

    Tajik authorities became concerned about Sharifov’s activities in Russia after he publicly criticized Moscow’s policies on migrant laborers.

    Sharifov also had a Russian passport. But in December 2017, a Russian court ruled he’d violated a law on “foreigners” illegally entering Russia or remaining in the country after their entry visas expire. The court ordered Sharifov’s deportation to Tajikistan.

    Sharifov was not arrested in Tajikistan, but he died there at the age of 57 under suspicious circumstances in May 2020.

    The circumstances of Amon’s forcible return to Tajikistan are equally troubling, as they have become all too familiar.

    Amon confided to friends months ago that he knew Tajik authorities wanted him sent back to Tajikistan. He’d told friends that he expected charges of being involved in terrorist activities to eventually be filed against him.

    RFE/RL’s Tajik Service, known locally as Ozodi, reports that Amon was accused on March 4 in Moscow’s Tverskoi court of illegal employment in Russia. It was then that he was threatened with deportation, which the court ordered on March 16.

    His wife, Sayora Taghoeva, who remains in Russia, said the family hired a lawyer in order to appeal the deportation order.

    One of Amon’s colleagues told Ozodi that Russian police detained Amon on March 25 and took him to an unknown location. His family was never informed by Russian authorities of his detention.

    Amon was back in Tajikistan by March 27.

    Asia-Plus reported on March 27 that Tajikistan’s Interior Ministry denied that Tajik law enforcement agencies had any connection to Amon’s detention in Russia. But later, the Interior Ministry announced several charges of fraud against Amon in Tajikistan.

    Recurring Pattern

    Human rights campaigners note that those fraud allegations are similar to charges brought against Tajik rights lawyer Buzurgmehr Yorov, who has been serving a 28-year prison sentence in Tajikistan since 2015.

    Russia has never been a safe haven for Tajiks who are wanted by authorities back in Tajikistan. But it is one of the easiest destinations for Tajik citizens to reach. For some Tajik migrants, Russia is the end of the line as they do not have the possibility of legally traveling to other countries.

    Buzurgmehr Yorov


    Buzurgmehr Yorov

    Swerdlow says forced returns and sometimes outright kidnappings of Central Asian dissidents on Russian soil have turned the country into a “graveyard for Tajik dissent.”

    Edward Lemon, an assistant professor at the Washington-based Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, has written extensively on transnational repression by Central Asian governments.

    “This kidnapping is certainly not an isolated incident,” Lemon says. “Despite being a small and impoverished state, the Tajik government has developed a relatively extensive network to control the opposition abroad, subjecting them to intimidation, harassment, attacks, detention, and rendition.”

    Lemon says that during his research on transnational repression, he has recorded 63 cases of Tajik citizens who’ve been targeted abroad since 1991. He says most have come “since 2015, when the government cracked down on the opposition, forcing many opposition members, journalists, and academics to flee the country.”

    All of those cases involved Tajiks who were in Russia or Turkey.

    Swerdlow says there have been similar cases in Belarus, Moldova, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, as well as further afield in Greece.

    Both Lemon and Swerdlow say Amon’s case resembles that of Maksud Ibragimov, a Tajik businessman living in Russia who established an organization called Youth for the Revival of Tajikistan. Ibragimov was detained in Russia in November 2014, based on a warrant issued by Tajikistan.

    As a Russian passport holder, he was released without being deported. Soon after his release, he was stabbed by an unknown assailant near his Moscow home.

    Ibragimov was arrested again in January 2015 and brought to the local prosecutor’s office before he was released again without being charged.

    Lemon recounts that “when he left the building, he was detained by unidentified men who took him to the airport and put him in the baggage hold of a plane.”

    “The Tajik government did not acknowledge that Ibragimov was back in Tajikistan until June 2015, when he was sentenced to 17 years in prison on a host of charges, including extremism,” Lemon said.

    Russian authorities have cooperated with Dushanbe more recently on the return of other Tajik dissidents. They include the opposition figures Shobuddin Badalov (2020, detained in Nizhny Novgorod); Sharofiddin Gadoev (2019, kidnapped from Moscow); and Naimjon Samiev (2018, detained in Grozny).

    Among all of those cases, only Gadoev made it out of Tajikistan. His release has been attributed to intervention by the Netherlands, where he’d received refugee status.

    Dismal Prospects

    The current situation does not bode well for Amon, as the fraud charges against him may only be the beginning. Tajik authorities are notorious for piling on charges against perceived opponents of the government in order to portray them as acting illegally and immorally.

    But for now, the most urgent concern for Amon’s family and colleagues is that he has not been seen or heard from since arriving in Dushanbe. That has raised fears that he may be being subjected to torture.

    Swerdlow and Lemon say it is going to take a lot more than wishful thinking to change this awful trajectory. At a minimum, they hope the Dushanbe embassies of the United States and European Union states will raise concerns about the cases of Amon and other political prisoners.

    They say Western embassies also should monitor Amon’s trial and explore options for reuniting him with his family abroad.

    RFE/RL’s Tajik Service contributed to this report.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Majlis Podcast: New Rules In Kazakhstan, Death Threats In Kyrgyzstan — The Problems Facing Central Asian Journalists

    The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released separate reports on Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan on March 23.

    Relative to Central Asia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have the most media-friendly environments but the CPJ reports highlight various problems. In Kazakhstan, for example, the government has been limiting the ability of journalists to do their job. Meanwhile, troll factories have been operating in Kyrgyzstan to discredit the work of some reporters, and at least one journalist says death threats are being posted on his social network accounts.

    The situation is still grim for independent media in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan remain grim, although some outlets in Uzbekistan have been testing the limits of what can and cannot be reported.

    On this week’s Majlis Podcast, RFE/RL media-relations manager Muhammad Tahir moderates a discussion on the problems media outlets and journalists face in Central Asia.

    This week’s guests are: from Kazakhstan, Diana Okremova, the director of the Legal Media Center in Nur-Sultan; from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Timur Toktonaliev, the Central Asia editor for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting; from New York, Gulnoza Said, the Central Asia coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists; and Bruce Pannier, the author of the Qishloq Ovozi blog.

    Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Majlis Podcast: New Rules In Kazakhstan, Death Threats In Kyrgyzstan — The Problems Facing Central Asian Journalists

    The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released separate reports on Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan on March 23.

    Relative to Central Asia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have the most media-friendly environments but the CPJ reports highlight various problems. In Kazakhstan, for example, the government has been limiting the ability of journalists to do their job. Meanwhile, troll factories have been operating in Kyrgyzstan to discredit the work of some reporters, and at least one journalist says death threats are being posted on his social network accounts.

    The situation is still grim for independent media in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan remain grim, although some outlets in Uzbekistan have been testing the limits of what can and cannot be reported.

    On this week’s Majlis Podcast, RFE/RL media-relations manager Muhammad Tahir moderates a discussion on the problems media outlets and journalists face in Central Asia.

    This week’s guests are: from Kazakhstan, Diana Okremova, the director of the Legal Media Center in Nur-Sultan; from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Timur Toktonaliev, the Central Asia editor for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting; from New York, Gulnoza Said, the Central Asia coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists; and Bruce Pannier, the author of the Qishloq Ovozi blog.

    Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Celebrations Over Uzbekistan’s First Independent Trade Union Cut Short By Threats, Harassment

    What looked like a victory this month for Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev, his government, and their reform pledges instead risks becoming just another example of empty promises in Central Asia’s most populous country.

    On March 19, around 280 workers from the Indorama Agro cotton farm gathered for the founding meeting of Uzbekistan’s first independent trade union, Halq Birligi (People’s Unity).

    The Berlin-based Uzbek Forum for Human Rights called it a “historic day,” but the victory did not last long.

    By March 24, Uzbek Forum was reporting that local officials were harassing members of the new union.

    “Leaders of Xalq Birligi…reported receiving calls from officials at the local administration who did not identify themselves, warning them that their involvement in union activities would cause them problems,” Uzbek Forum wrote.

    The report said police were also phoning union activists “demanding that they stop their organizing activities and leave the union.”

    The new union aims to protect the rights of Indorama Agro’s workers in Syrdarya Province.

    Singapore-based Indorama Agro has been active in Uzbekistan since 2010, mainly in the cotton industry.

    According to Uzbek Forum, the Uzbek government made some 40,000 hectares of irrigated land available to Indorama Agro in four districts — the Kasbi and Nishan districts of Kashkadarya Province and the Akaltyn and Sardoba districts of Syrdarya Province — in August 2018 to “organize modern cotton-textile production.”

    Indorama Agro established cluster farms, a controversial scheme that allows companies to invest money and reorganize land and local labor to boost efficiency in production.

    Critics argue that this system has simply allowed the wealthy — some with alleged connections to senior Uzbek officials — to privatize agriculturally based businesses in the areas, depriving local farmers of their land and stripping local workers of many of their rights.

    And some Uzbek farmers have alleged that they are being forced to work on cluster farms.

    RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service, known locally as Ozodlik, reported in January that more than 100 textile workers from an Indorama Agro cluster farm in Kashkadarya Province’s Kasbi district demonstrated after they were laid off without being paid accrued wages.

    One of the allegations was that Indorama Agro had dispensed with many full-time contract workers and switched to three-month contracts without sick pay, pensions, or compensation for overtime.

    Some workers at Indorama Agro clusters complain of low wages, and Uzbek Forum quoted one farm worker as saying he had worked for two years without a vacation or holiday leave.

    Halq Birligi is vowing to change that and otherwise work to rein in alleged abuses on cluster farms in Syrdarya Province, as well as to improve working conditions for agricultural laborers.

    But the independent union appears to be running into some of the same obstacles that other local rights activists and opposition political parties have experienced.

    Uzbek Forum reported that on March 19, when Halq Birligi unionists intended to hold their meeting, “workers had rented a meeting room to hold their election but when they arrived, the building administrator refused them entry, telling them the room was unavailable due to ‘urgent repairs.’”

    Uzbek Forum said workers then moved to a nearly teahouse, “but the electricity was cut off soon after they began. They continued their meeting outside, with workers holding up their cell-phone flashlights to provide light.”

    Roza Agaydarova was elected head of the union.

    According to Uzbek Forum, Agaydarova said on March 23 that “she received a call from a regional representative of the Federation of Trade Unions of Uzbekistan, the national union federation, which is not considered independent from the government, and was told that according to the laws of Uzbekistan, they had to join the federation, otherwise their union is invalid.”

    Uzbek Forum cited a guarantee in Uzbekistan’s new law on trade unions ensuring workers the right to join the organization of their choice and the right to avoid being forced into joining an organization.

    Ozodlik contacted the head of the Syrdarya provincial branch of the Federation of Trade Unions of Uzbekistan, Rustambek Tursunmuradov, who confirmed he had phoned Agaydarova and told her that forming an independent trade union was a bad idea.

    Asked why his organization had not defended the rights of farmers working for Indorama Agro, Tursunmuradov said that when those individuals started working for Indorama Agro they lost their membership in the Federation of Trade Unions of Uzbekistan.

    After the death of Uzbekistan’s first president, Islam Karimov, in 2016, Mirziyoev came to power promising better working conditions, including the eradication of forced labor in the cotton fields.

    Most observers agree that there has been significant progress toward ending forced labor in Uzbekistan. But the cluster-farm idea is not only unpopular; it could be counterproductive if the goal truly is to improve working conditions for agricultural workers.

    The executive director of the Uzbek Forum for Human Rights, Umida Niyazova, credited Mirziyoev’s government for showing “the political will to combat forced labor and open its economy.”

    But, she added, “The way it treats the first independent trade union is a test of the seriousness of its reforms, and the world is watching.”

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.