Agnieszka Pikulicka, fellow of the Coalition for Women in Journalism (a New York-based nonprofit organization) currently based in Tashkent, reported of her being rejected journalistic accreditation, sexual harassment and pressure by an Uzbek Foreign Ministry official. She wrote about this on Twitter on February 1.
“After 6 mths the Uzbek MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) finally rejected my application for accreditation (by law they have 2 mths). The reason: I worked for other media not only the one I was accredited for. It took them 6 months to come up with an excuse. Here is a story of my relations with MFA.”
“I got accredited last year and allocated a contact person at the MFA called Rustam. He seemed helpful at first but it soon became clear that he was interested in more than just work. He tried to kiss me and even though he got rejected, he kept on txting me with offers to meet.”
“He continued sending me txts I didn't want to receive so after a few days I politely explained that I'm not interested in any contacts other than work. His reaction: why? do you have a boyfriend? I had to be polite as in the end, I had been waiting for accreditation for months.”
“After the sexual harassment ended, pressure began. At first, it was subtle, he asked me to write a positive article about the quarantine because "there's too much negative news". I said I will not write it because at the time I was out of Uzbekistan.”
“I couldn't come back to Uzbekistan for months because of closed borders. There were charter flights but the ministry didn't want to allow me to buy a ticket (which cost over 500USD one way anyway). In August the guy txted again saying that I should write a positive article.”
“It was the peak of the pandemic, corruption scandals were coming to light, people in Uz had no means to survive and thousands continued to live in displacement following the Sardoba dam's collapse. Among millions of other problems.”
“I asked him what kind of positive article I could possibly write in such a dire moment. I was told I wasn't objective and that I'm not a journalist. I got angry and told him that I will write a complaint against him, which I did the day after.
“He deleted our conversation in telegram but I have a few screenshots left. Following the complaint, no one got back to me. I reapplied for my accreditation and the reply only came today. I have no doubts that the official reason for rejecting my application is just an excuse.”
“In fact, Uzbekistan's authorities don't want foreign journalists to write about problems, they don't need this kind of publicity. They want articles about tourism and non-existent development. Just to remind you, I'm the only English speaking journo permanently based here.”
Forgot to mention that I was advised by the MFA people to apply for a separate accreditation each time I want to write an article since it takes at least 2 months to get it (but it can also take 8) I would end up writing max 6 pieces a year. Thanks guys, that's very helpful.
