OSCE must be tougher with Central Asia's human rights record

The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights said in its latest annual report that the ex-Soviet region's civil society, opposition political parties and media have come under growing pressure in the past year as governments used the war on terror as a pretext to tighten control.

Photo: OSCE must be tougher with Central Asia's human rights record

The OSCE has not done enough to bring the Uzbek government to account for the killing of more than 700 people in a crackdown during a May 2005 uprising, the federation's executive director, Aaron Rhodes said at a news conference Monday, calling the revolt "one of the most outrageous attacks on civilians since World War II."

Rhodes also urged the OSCE to note what he said were negative trends in Kazakhstan regarding democracy when it decides in December on the country's bid to chair the trans-Atlantic security group in 2009, the AP reports.