Until recently, the United States has been at the forefront of the fight to stop China’s atrocity crimes against Uyghurs. The U.S. Congress passed landmark legislation such as the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act and the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA). The government placed 144 Chinese companies on theContinue Reading
Over the past eight years, Uzbekistan and Pakistan have taken several steps to strengthen their bilateral ties, elevating their cooperation into a strategic partnership. A key milestone in this process was the signing of the Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership in 2021, followed by a series of diplomatic, defense, andContinue Reading
On February 27, I woke up from one nightmare to another. Messages had streamed into my phone. An unscheduled China Southern Airlines flight had left Bangkok at 4:48 a.m. and landed in Kashgar, a city in the south of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. It’s where the ChineseContinue Reading
Although Uzbekistan has effectively eliminated large-scale state-imposed forced labor in the cotton harvest, ongoing government influence over certain aspects of the country’s agricultural industry continues to generate exploitative conditions for farmers and pickers alike, the Uzbek Forum for Human Rights argued in a new report. The report, covering the 2024Continue Reading
Uzbekistan hopes to finalize its accession to the World Trade Organization in 2026, bringing to a close a 31-year effort that envisions an open, competitive, and resilient economy. Following the WTO’s General Council meeting on February 18-19, Uzbekistan’s chief WTO negotiator Azizbek Urunov said that the WTO’s director general hadContinue Reading
Last week, and for the first time, Kyrgyzstan extradited an individual facing federal criminal charges to the United States. Danhong “Jean” Chen, also known as Maria Sofia Taylor, had been on the run from U.S. authorities since October 2018 after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civilContinue Reading
The house of Sino Sharipov (who asked not to use his real name) is located on top of a hill on the northeast side of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, overlooking the city’s coal-powered cement factory and coal-powered thermal power plant. From the vantage point of his home, Sharipov can clearly see theContinue Reading
President Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan is scheduled to make a state visit to the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, on March 12-13. Rahmon’s visit this week to Kyrgyzstan comes in the wake of the settling of a final border agreement between the two countries and ahead of an expected trilateral summitContinue Reading
Kazakhstan aims to further increase the volume of oil it exports through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, underscoring Astana’s continued efforts to diversify its routes amid the Central Asian region’s constrained geography. Following a meeting in Astana this week with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, Kazakh Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu notedContinue Reading
NEW YORK — In a packed hall overlooking the United Nations Headquarters, Kazakh nuclear justice advocate Aigerim Seitenova premiered her documentary “JARA — Radioactive Patriarchy: Women of Qazaqstan.” The screening took place on the sidelines of the Third Meeting of States Parties of the Treaty on the Prohibition of NuclearContinue Reading
