Publication

This policy brief discusses the EU stance toward the regime of Uzbekistan’s President Islom Karimov, following the suppression of the Andijon uprising in 2005. Terming the EU diplomatic sanctions necessary and principled, the author concludes that any normalization of bilateral relations with Uzbekistan must be contingent not on cosmetic changes in the country’s human rights situation, but on concrete measures taken to improve the lives of its citizens. To accept anything less, the paper states, would be to commit a grave disservice to ordinary citizens, and would be devastating to the EU’s credibility.