The annual EU-Central Asia Ministerial Meeting is scheduled to take place in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on 7 July 2019. Ahead of this meeting, International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) and seven other international NGOs wrote a letter to the EU’s High Representative on Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini, asking her to use her upcoming visit to Kyrgyzstan to secure the release of human rights defender Azimjon Askarov and his transfer to a safe third country for medical treatment.
By taking this step, the Kyrgyzstani authorities would demonstrate their commitment to international human rights standards, and thereby also to their obligations as an EU partner country, in particular in view of intensifying EU-Kyrgyzstan relations and the adoption of the new EU-Central Asia Strategy in June 2019.
The letter in PDF is available here.