Lemkin Institute Statement at the United Nations Forum on Minority Issues

In line with the topic of our second session, Social and Economic Empowerment, I will highlight what we believe is the coordinated assault on the social and economic lives of the Karakalpak people by Uzbekistan authorities. [...] The neglect of Karakalpakstan’s economic development, compounded by the ecological disaster of the disappearance of the Aral Sea, has amounted to the fracturing of the Karakalpak people throughout Central Asia and across the globe and has resulted in alarmingly negative health outcomes for people remaining in Karakalpakstan. [...] While economic stagnation, population dispersal, and negative health outcomes have been the consequence of economic neglect, the Uzbekistan state has also directly and actively targeted the social and economic wellbeing of the Karakalpak people, using various methods, including political persecution, to undermine social bonds and disrupt economic development. [...] In this context of state repression, the Lemkin Institute hopes the international community take action to support Karakalpakstan, the diaspora abroad, the Roma community, and minorities throughout Uzbekistan in asserting their agency and community while working to hold Uzbekistan’s government responsible for their mistreatment of minorities. [...] • Adhere to the Constitution with reference to the sovereignty of the “Republic of Karakalpakstan” and the rights guaranteed therein; • Allow for the self-determination of the Karakalpak people as held in the Constitution and enshrined in the UN Charter, while including ethnic Karakalpak officials in all decision making pertaining to Karakalpakstan; • Affirm the rights of all minority populations.