O.K. bushies, don't come whining to me when they torture your son.

Rights Groups Blast UNESCO for Awarding Uzbek President

Created: 14.09.2006 12:35 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 13:38 MSK

MosNews

UNESCO’s decision to award Uzbek President Islam Karimov the “Borobudur” gold medal has caused criticism of several international rights organizations who consider Karimov a gross violator of human rights, Radio Free Europe reports.

UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura personally gave Karimov the award in Tashkent on September 8 for the Uzbek president’s contribution to “strengthening friendship and cooperation between the nations, development of cultural and religious dialogue, and supporting cultural diversity.” Rights organizations have long branded Karimov a gross violator of human rights. They say that any international award to the Uzbek leader is inappropriate and that the UNESCO decision was not only wrong but runs contrary to stated UN policies.

Freedom House and Human Rights Watch are leading the campaign against the UNESCO decision.

Veronika Szente-Goldston, Human Rights Watch’s advocacy director for Europe and Central Asia, expressed her organization’s shock at news of the award in comments to RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service. “We think that this is absolutely scandalous,” she said. “When we first saw the announcement we thought that it must be a bad joke.”
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