Uzbekistan 's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev will pay a high-level visit to Brussels on October 24, 2025, to sign a partnership deal with the EU setting out a new stage of closer relations and cooperation.
While the new EU-Uzbekistan Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement specifies respect for democratic principles and human rights and fundamental freedoms as an "essential element" of the agreement, Uzbekistan's rights record has worsened in many areas since negotiations started six years ago, Human Rights Watch said today.
"In signing this agreement without requiring specific improvements to ensure the ability of independent civic groups or media professionals to carry out their work or address the country's history of impunity for abuses, the EU has missed an important opportunity to bring about positive change," said Iskra Kirova, Europe and Central Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. "The EU and its member states should now insist that Uzbekistan fulfil its essential obligations under the new deal and be prepared to raise tough issues in bilateral relations."
In the last several years, Uzbek authorities have ramped up restrictions on independent human rights activism and freedom of expression, targeting activists, bloggers, and others, including with unfounded criminal charges such as "insulting the president online." At least two bloggers have been put into forced psychiatric detention in violation of their rights to liberty and security and health.
Nongovernmental organizations are subject to excessive and burdensome registration requirements and independent groups are prevented from registering. No progress has been made on a stalled code for nongovernmental groups. In June 2024, parliament passed a law allowing the authorities to designate as "undesirable" and ban from the country any foreigner on overly broad and vague grounds of contradicting state sovereignty or discrediting Uzbekistan. Consensual same sex relations between men remains criminalized.
In July 2022, security forces in Uzbekistan used unjustified, including lethal, force to disperse mainly peaceful protesters in Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan's autonomous republic. Since then, the authorities have largely denied accountability for the deaths and grave injuries that occurred. However, a peaceful Karakalpak blogger and lawyer, Dauletmurat Tajimuratov, was sentenced to 16 years in prison for his alleged role in the protests. His allegations of ill-treatment and torture have been ignored.
Although Uzbekistan has eliminated state-imposed forced labor in its cotton sector, risks of forced labor and restrictions on freedom of association for agricultural workers in Uzbekistan persist.
The EU's signing of the agreement with Uzbekistan takes place amid intensifying engagement between the EU and Central Asian countries with the first EU-Central Asia summit held in April 2025 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The summit declaration put freedom of expression and association, an enabling environment for civil society and independent media, and the protection of human rights defenders at the core of EU-Central Asia relations.
But these commitments have not resulted in substantial human rights improvements, and neither has the preferential EU market access granted to Uzbekistan in exchange for implementation of international labor and human rights conventions. Energy, transport, access to raw materials and security cooperation have instead dominated bilateral relations at the expense of advancements on rights.
Rights protections and the rule of law are essential to secure the EU's interests in this partnership, including for sustainable trade and security cooperation, Human Rights Watch said. The European Parliament and EU member states that need to ratify the agreement in the coming months should assert that the continued stifling of civic activism, curbs on free expression and assembly, or the risks of forced labour, imperil bilateral relations.
"Signing this agreement is an important milestone," Kirova said. "The EU should make clear that Uzbekistan's human rights obligations are non-negotiable and that it will monitor closely and insist on the implementation of all aspects of the deal."
