Date

Title

Name

Address

Your Excellency,

XX PEN Centre, the national association of writers, is seriously concerned about the situation of our colleague writers and journalists worldwide. PEN fully supports the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process, and for the 18th Session of the Working Group on the UPR it has contributed with submissions on Uzbekistan, Russia and Azerbaijan. PEN’s recommendations outlined in these reports are summarised below.

Uzbekistan

  • Release all imprisoned writers and journalists, if necessary under the amnesty provisions under Article 68 of the Criminal Code on the 20th anniversary of the Constitution;
  • Eliminate criminal defamation laws that punish speech about President Karimov as well as provisions pertaining to “insult” and “denigration”;
  • Allow all journalists, both domestic and foreign, to report on critical human rights issues, such as the freedom of assembly, child labor, and corruption in the legal system;
  • Allow foreign journalists to register and work in the country;
  • End official censorship of expression in print, in broadcast media, and the Internet so that they uphold Article 29 of the Uzbekistan Constitution and Article 19 of the ICCPR;
  • Grant visas, registration, and accreditation so that international non-governmental organizations can operate in Uzbekistan.

Russia

  • Enable journalists to report on protests unhindered; and implement measures to ensure full justice for all murdered writers and journalists;
  • Decriminalise libel and bring legislation back into line with European norms for such offences;
  • End the application of hooliganism and extremism laws as a means to suppress dissent; support the Supreme Court in its efforts to clarify definitions and educate Russia’s prosecutors and judges about this;
  • Allay concerns that there is collusion between the church and state to penalise critics of the church; and ensure that the draft legislation to criminalise blasphemy is not introduced;
  • Review legislation aimed at internet regulation, further defining the target of such regulation, and ensure the provision of independent oversight of the process for blacklisting web content;
  • Rescind all legislation that curtails the capacity of advocacy groups to carry out their functions as promoters and defenders of civil and political rights; encourage conformity with the recommendations made by the Expert Council on NGO Law of the Council of Europe;
  • Uphold rulings of the European Court of Human Rights to address restrictions to freedom of expression faced by LGBT activists; review new legislation to ensure that it does not penalise commentary on LGBT issues, and widely publicise the clarification of the Supreme Court.

Azerbaijan

  • Redouble efforts to investigate the murders of Rafig Tagi and Elmar Huseynov in line with international standards and bring the perpetrators and organisers of the attacks to justice. All information related to the investigations of the murders of Rafig Tagi and Elmar Huseynov should also be made public;
  • Seriously investigate and prosecute all cases of violence against journalists, bringing the perpetrators and organisers of the attacks to justice;
  • Take seriously all reports of threats against journalists and provide them with adequate protection to ensure their safety;
  • Investigate seriously all violations of journalists' right to privacy and prosecute those responsible, bringing the perpetrators and organisers to justice;
  • Decriminalise defamation and ensure that the use of civil defamation provisions is in line with international standards;
  • Ensure that the Law on the Right to Obtain Information is fully implemented in accordance with international standards;
  • Initiate broad consultations with civil society representatives, seeking to revise laws which are problematic for freedom of expression, in line with international standards;
  • Immediately and unconditionally release all persons in detention or imprisoned in connection with exercising their right to freedom of expression online;
  • Cease practices of targeting social media users who express opinions critical of the authorities or use the Internet to cal1 for or organise protests;
  • Refrain from using blocking as a permanent solution or as a means of punishment and invest in Internet infrastructure and work towards universal, affordable, high-speed Internet access.

We respectfully request that the (your country’s delegation) XX delegation, present at this UPR session, ensures that these recommendations are included in the review of these countries.

For further information, the reports filed by PEN International to the UPR on Uzbekistan, Russia and Azerbaijan are attached to this letter.

Yours sincerely,

XX PEN Centre