| Taken Questions Office of the Spokesman Washington, DC November 13, 2003 Taken Question from Daily Briefing of Nov. 13, 2003 Assistant Secretaries Beth Jones and Lorne Craner Central Asia Trip2003/1161 Question: What are Assistant Secretaries Jones and Craner doing in Central Asia? What are the issues that they will be addressing? Answer: Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Beth Jones and Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Lorne Craner traveled to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, November 10-14. Assistant Secretaries Jones and Craner met with senior government leaders in all four countries, as well as NGO representatives and students, to discuss the full range of bilateral and international issues on our common agenda, including the global war on terrorism. At each stop, they raised the importance of political and economic reforms and the need to respect human rights. They also met with local opposition leaders, NGO's, media representatives and human rights activists in each capital. While in Kazakhstan, Assistant Secretaries Jones and Craner dedicated a new embassy office in the new capital of Astana. In Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan they attended the official opening of an independent printing press made possible by Freedom House. Question: In Uzbekistan, will they address the issue of people being tortured in detention? Answer: While in Tashkent on November 10, Assistant Secretaries Jones and Craner urged the government to do everything possible to prevent torture and to conduct full and independent investigations of all previous reports of deaths due to torture. They also urged the Government to implement the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.
|
 | |||
|
