Development Blogs.com

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A paper on the 'Development of Agriculture Information Services in Central Asia and the Caucasus' by Oleg Shatberashvili and Ajit Maru was planned for the recent IFLA congress in Quebec. Unfortunately, the authors could not be there to present it.The paper looks at the status of agricultural information services in five countries of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) and in the Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia).The authors conclude that "there is the need to improve access of researchers to international and regional STI and participate in sharing and exchanging regional information internationally. It implies both traditional library networks and ICT-based services."There is also a "need to enable access to agricultural information to not...

Freedom House has just released the country reports from the latest edition of its annual Freedom in the World survey, as well as Nations in Transit report – a comprehensive annual study of reform in the former Communist states of Europe and Eurasia. According to the findings, the year 2007 was marked by a notable setback for global freedom and one of the regions where it was most pronounced is former Soviet Union. One of the key findings of the Nations in Transit report is that as oil and natural gas revenues surge in Russia and Central Asia, democratic institutions are more and more in trouble. The erosion of democratic governance has occurred not just in electoral practices, but also in the areas of civil society, independent media, and judicial independence. The reason for that...

While many in Kazakhstan and abroad are wondering whether a large financial crisis is in store for this oil-rich giant, others are hoping that this could be a window of opportunity to bring about reform that embodies transparency, inclusiveness, rule of law and accountability, all key elements in ensuring long-term stability and prosperity. Some have praised Kazakhstan as a rock of stability and a regional leader in economic growth, however its current troubling developments point to the danger of the contrary. Recent political and economic trends in Kazakhstan have disappointed many well-wishing international observers, who view the country as having significantly drifted away from openness and transparency and embraced strong-armed tactics in the political arena as well as the economy....

Kazakhstan’s Chairmanship for 2010 Places OSCE Human Rights Principles at Risk Kazakhstan should not have been named chair-in-office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch said that Kazakhstan’s chairmanship risks undermining the integrity of the OSCE’s human rights principles....

In the August 18th parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan, Nur Otan party of the authoritarian president Nursultan Nazarbayev trumped the competition, taking all 98 seats. Consiglio Di Nino, the head of the OSCE’s delegation, said the voting was flawed, but remained optimistic that “these elections continue to move Kazakhstan forward in its evolution towards a democratic country.” But this evolution certainly still has a long way to go. According to the preliminary results, Nur Otan received 88 percent of the vote and no other party cleared the high 7 percent electoral threshold required to enter the parliament. But monitors have found irregularities in more than 40 percent of the polling stations they visited, such as inflated turnout numbers, multiple voting, and improper...

The government of Kazakhstan must not return to Uzbekistan an Uzbek refugee currently in custody in the Kazakh city Almaty, Human Rights Watch said today. Gabdurafih Temirbaev, who fled religious persecution in Uzbekistan, would be at risk of torture and persecution if he were forcibly returned....

New Eyewitness Details of November Returns The government of Kazakhstan must investigate the forced return of Uzbek nationals who sought refuge in Kazakhstan, and hold accountable the officials responsible, Human Rights Watch said today....