The EU-Central Asia summit's elephant in the room — political repression

On Friday (4 April) Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission and Antonio Costa, president of the European Council are travelling to Samarkand, Uzbekistan for the EU–Central Asia summit.

It is the first time this summit is gathering and that is no accident.

Until recently these countries — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan — faced criticism from the EU for their poor human rights records and, notably, some of them for their close ties to Russia and their role in circumventing sanctions.

The EU was previously very concerned about the lack of fundamental freedoms in Central Asia. That changed in February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine.

Europe decided to sanction Russia and to seriously decrease its dependency on Russian gas.

Of course, by doing so the EU had to increase imports from other countries.

Kazakhstan is already Europe’s third-largest oil provider, while Turkmenistan — whose partnership cooperation agreement with the EU remains blocked by the European Parliament due to its appalling human rights situation — is known to have massive gas reserves.

In 2024, Hungary signed a gas deal with Turkmenistan, but future plans are much bigger. The idea of the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline would connect gas fields in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan to the markets of Turkey and Europe. 

Therefore, it is natural that Costa said in a statement that “in a world of disorder and fragmentation (…) the only viable solution for the EU is to build stronger partnerships to advance peace and prosperity,” adding that “a multipolar world requires greater and tailored engagement.”

Costa further concluded that “the very first EU-Central Asia summit will solidify our commitment to work together for peace, security, and sustainable development, in full respect of international law.”

While we understand the EU’s need to broaden its partnerships, certainly on energy, it is telling that democracy and human rights are not mentioned in Costa’s statement.

At the same time, all countries of Central Asia are labelled as “not free” by the Freedom Index of Freedom House. Moreover, the situation in the region is even deteriorating compared to last year.

Even more dramatic are the democracy scores of each of these countries, all of them are classified as “consolidated autocratic regimes”, again by Freedom House.

No free media, prison for dissidents

These scores might seem a bit abstract to a European public, but for the people living there, they represent a daily harsh reality. While dictators in central Asia are speaking about progress and democratic reform, opposition parties are forbidden while its members are imprisoned.

To give the example of Kazakhstan, there are currently at least 48 political prisoners. All independent media have been completely defeated and no longer exist. The opposition has been crushed, and independent political parties cannot be registered. People are imprisoned for participating in peaceful rallies, supporting opposition movements, disseminating information on human rights violations, and even collecting donations for political prisoners.

In Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, the situation is even much worse. 

At the same time, several Central Asian countries are persecuting dissidents worldwide in what is called transnational repression. These authoritarian regimes are spending millions of euros in order to silence opposition voices that fled the region and are living abroad. They are using disinformation campaigns, blackmail by threatening and even torturing family members and even kidnapping dissidents living outside Kazakhstan. They conclude mutual legal assistance agreements with European governments to go after dissidents abroad.

For political refugees in Europe, like us, this is a daily reality. 

In a world that is shifting dramatically, the EU should also choose carefully its new allies and friends.

All Central Asian countries have made it clear from the start of the Russian invasion in Ukraine that they do not want to impose sanctions on Russia. One could understand this position, seeing the multiple economic ties the region has with Russia. But so has Europe. The EU has, for example, completely changed its energy policy after the start of the war.

On top of that, there is a difference between keeping open some economic lines and helping Russia to circumvent the sanctions, which is exactly what several Central Asian countries are doing.

As human rights defenders living in Europe, we do understand that the EU is looking for new partnerships in order to secure its energy imports.

However, von der Leyen and Costa should also know that Central Asian countries are even more desperate to see their role in the international community upgraded.

Therefore, the EU should maintain its human rights conditions that it has held for all cooperation agreements in the past. The EU should demand from the leaders of Central Asia to stop repressing their people and stop persecuting dissidents living in Europe. If not, we are wondering if the EU will ever regain its image as defender of democracy and human rights ever again.