The EU is being urged to put human rights centre stage as it begins its first summit with the leaders of central Asia.
The president of the European Council, António Costa, and the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, are meeting the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan on Friday.
Hosted by Uzbekistan’s president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the group will discuss trade, counter-terrorism, climate and energy ties in Samarkand, a stop on the ancient Silk Road linking Asia and the west that is now a symbol of rapid development in the region.
Ties between the EU and the former Soviet republics of central Asia have intensified since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The two sides have pledged to improve transport links, through a project known as the trans-Caspian transport corridor, which aims to cut the overland journey between the EU and central Asia by half, down to no more than 15 days. Brussels also hopes for endorsement of a text on critical raw materials that are abundant in the region and needed for the EU’s green transition.
One senior EU official said it was “a landmark summit” and that central Asian countries showed “a corresponding wish to deepen the relationship with the EU and to diversify their foreign policy”.
Ahead of the summit, the most complex issue – for the central Asian countries – was how to refer to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the final declaration. Kazakhstan, once one of Russia’s closes allies, has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine, maintained contact with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and banned Russian military propaganda symbols. Kazakhstan, however, joined Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in abstaining on a recent UN general assembly vote calling for “peaceful resolution of the war in Ukraine”.
The European parliament has also raised concerns about Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan being “possible hubs” allowing Russia to circumvent western sanctions.
Amid shifting geopolitical alliances and the scramble for mineral wealth, campaigners are urging the EU not to overlook human rights.
“These new partnerships are very important, but they will not be sustainable and will not really secure the EU’s interests unless the EU also cares about rule of law in the region and protection of rights,” Iskra Kirova, of Human Rights Watch, said.
The EU, she added, was not using its leverage in a credible way. She questioned the union’s decision to sign a wide-ranging trade and cooperation deal with Kyrgyzstan last June, after Bishkek adopted a Russian-style “foreign representatives” law that requires NGOs receiving funds from abroad to bear this designation. The law stigmatises organisations and has had a “very chilling effect” on Kyrgyz civil society, Kirova said.
The EU “does not insist that there will be concrete achievements before it grants these kinds of straight benefits or bilateral agreements”, she said, referring also to preferential trade deals.
A senior EU official said a plan for criminal sanctions in the original Kyrgyz NGO bill had been dropped following EU intervention, adding this was “a major difference” with similar laws in Russia and Belarus. “We are not going there to preach,” a second official said. “But the more we have a dialogue and engagement and interaction, the more we believe that we can change and improve all the things that concern us.”
Maisy Weicherding at Amnesty International said the EU needed to set an example by ensuring “human rights due diligence” was part of any infrastructure project, listing actions including environmental and climate impact assessments, consulting local people and ensuring no forced displacement.
Such due diligence would be crucial in Uzbekistan, she said, where a UN special rapporteur found in 2024 that large numbers of people were being forced out of their homes to make way for large-scale redevelopment. “It is really imperative that [the EU] do not just go in and endorse repressive practices in these countries but try and insist proper human rights procedures are followed.”
The summit host, Mirziyoyev, became Uzbekistan’s president in 2016, after the death of the dictator Islam Karimov. He has introduced reforms, including clamping down on forced labour in cotton fields. Rights groups say his government allows no dissent and voting remains tightly controlled, such as in a recent referendum introducing constitutional changes that will enable Mirziyoyev to remain in power until 2040.
Jana Toom, the vice-chair of the European parliament’s delegation for central Asia, said central Asian countries were not doing enough to stop circumvention of EU sanctions against Russia, although she added that they had not made any commitments on this score.
Asked whether the EU was striking the right balance between economic interests and human rights, the Estonian liberal MEP said: “I believe that if we have beneficial cooperation between the European Union and central Asia, things will improve. It will take time, of course. And we have to take into account also the fact where they find themselves: between Russia and China, and they are trying to balance.”
