Uzbekistan allows return of its citizens from Middle East conflict zones
IAR DeskUzbek citizens stranded in different conflict zones in the Middle East safely repatriated home, to be extended all facilities for rehabilitation and integration in society
Tashkent: Uzbekistan on May 30, allowed back almost 156 Uzbek citizens – mostly women and children – who had found themselves trapped in conflict zones in the Middle East. They arrived in Tashkent by a special chartered flight.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan announced that the humanitarian operation has been carried out, as directed by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, in full compliance with the fundamental international instruments in the field of human rights, as well as on the rules and principles of international humanitarian law.
An increasing number of foreign women and children, the wives and children of different terrorist groups who had been active in Iraq and Syria, especially belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) group, have been found abandoned or stranded in camps there, their husbands either dead or in custody of different governments. Many of them find themselves stateless, with the governments of the countries of origin unwilling to take them back. With the governments of Iraq and Syria reclaiming territory under the control of ISIL and other militant groups, these stranded women and children have come to represent a humanitarian crisis. The UN has been forced to intervene and adopted UN Security Council resolution 2396, which mandates that governments extend help to their citizens, who may be associated with foreign terrorist militants and who may be victims of terrorism.
The Uzbek Government has announced that it will provide comprehensive assistance for the rehabilitation and reintegration of all those who have returned to their homeland. They will have access to health care and psychosocial support, educational and other social programmes. The necessary conditions will be created for the rescued compatriots to return to a normal peaceful life, including by providing adequate housing and employment.
According to the Uzbek Foreign Ministry the ‘humanitarian mission to save our citizens, which was successfully held in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, was the result of coordinated action by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, special services and other agencies of Uzbekistan”.
Important support was provided by a number of foreign States and international organizations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross and UNICEF. The Uzbek side expressed its gratitude to all involved partners for their assistance in the successful return of our citizens to their homeland.
The ministry also asserted that it considers it “important’ to inform its compatriots, for various reasons, stranded in a foreign country in a difficult life situation, that all of them are under the protection of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and the state will make every effort to ensure their rights and interests.
Recently Kazakhstan, another Central Asia country, earned praises for the UN for the way it has handled the case of Kazakh citizens who had been found in Syria, associated with the ISIL.
