11 May 2009

To:

H.E President Islam Karimov

President of Uzbekistan

I write as the Secretary General of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation,

an international alliance of civil society with members and partners in over a hundred

countries. CIVICUS supports participatory democracy and citizens’ freedom of

association.

We call on you to allow Uzbek citizens who wish to fulfil their civic duty to lay flowers

and to mourn in silence at the Monument to Courage in Andijan on 13 May 2009.

CIVICUS, joined by civil society organisations from around Eurasia, wishes to

express deep concern about annual obstructions created by Uzbek law enforcement

agencies which prevent citizens from paying tribute to the memory of those killed in

the events that took place on 12-13 May 2005 in Andijan. In the past, citizens have

been prevented from exercising their constitutional right to assemble peacefully and

from laying flowers and engaging in other peaceful activities to memorialise the

victims.

According to official estimates, 187 people were killed when Uzbek Interior Ministry

and National Security Service troops fired into a crowd of protesters in Andijan,

although news sources placed the number of victims at 400 to 600. Among the dead

were women, the elderly and children, who were innocent victims of the provocations

and violence. Honouring the memory of victims of this tragedy is the responsibility of

any member of civil society – one that should be respected and facilitated by state

officials.

On 13 May 2009, CIVICUS and the others who join us in this letter, will

commemorate those who died needlessly in Andijan four years ago, as well as call

upon Uzbek government to ensure such a tragedy is never repeated.

Sincerely,

Ingrid Srinath

Secretary General

CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation

E mail: ingrid.srinath@civicus.org Tel: +27 11 833 5959

Joined by:

Assembly of Belarusian NGOs, Belarus

Center for Legal Transformation, Belarus

NGO Karaganda Ecological Museum, Kazakhstan

PF Centre of Implementation of New Environmental Safety Technology, Kazakhstan

International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, Kazakhstan

Institute for Development Cooperation, Kazakhstan

Network “Citizens against Corruption”, Kyrgyzstan

Network “Individuals Changing the World”, Kyrgyzstan

NGO Open Alternative, Russia

Fund for Legal Technologies, Ukraine

Committee for the Release of Prisoners of Conscience in Uzbekistan, Uzbekistan

Human Rights Alliance, Uzbekistan