Uzbekistan - September 2024

The upper house of Uzbekistan’s parliament amended the ‘law on the legal status of foreign citizens’ on 20 September to empower the government to ban ‘undesirable’ foreign citizens from entering the country. Any non-citizen can be declared undesirable at the Uzbek government’s discretion if their words or actions are interpreted to somehow threaten the country’s sovereignty or insult its people. Analysts say the law was likely prompted by threats made to the country’s territorial integrity by right-wing Russian politicians in recent years. Critics and rights activists are concerned its broad application and lack of judicial oversight will be used to silence or dampen criticism of human rights abuses in the country. Successive Uzbek governments have refused visas or otherwise prevented human rights investigators and journalists from entering the countries, and experts worry the amended law will be used to entrench and expand this practice.

Sources: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (1), Article 19, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (2), Kun.uz