Refugees After the 2005 Andijan Events: The UNHCR Evacuation and a New Diaspora in the West

On 13 May 2005, a large public protest in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan was suppressed by force. Estimates of the death toll differ sharply and no single figure has been agreed to this day: the government of Uzbekistan called the event a 'terrorist act' and put the toll at 187; Human Rights Watch and other rights groups stated that hundreds may have been killed. This article examines not the event itself but the migration and diaspora formation that followed — based on documented facts (Source: Human Rights Watch — 'Bullets Were Falling Like Rain', 2005; Wikipedia — Andijan events).

Across the border to Kyrgyzstan

On 13 May and the following days, a group of people — by various estimates around five hundred — crossed south from Andijan into neighbouring Kyrgyzstan. They were housed in a tent camp in the Jalal-Abad region of southern Kyrgyzstan (near Suzak) and placed under the care of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The government of Uzbekistan demanded their extradition — their return (Source: UNHCR — Update on Uzbek refugees; Eurasianet — Uzbekistan Denounces the Evacuation).

The UNHCR airlift: 439 to Romania

To move the refugees out of a region where they faced danger, UNHCR carried out a humanitarian evacuation. On 29 July 2005, 439 Uzbek refugees who had fled to Kyrgyzstan were airlifted to Romania; the operation was conducted by the UN and strongly supported by the United States. Romania received them temporarily, until permanent resettlement to a third country (Source: UNHCR — Update on Uzbek refugees; The New Humanitarian — Andijan refugees in Romania).

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Resettlement to third countries

Over the following months these refugees were resettled permanently to several countries. According to UNHCR, they were taken in by countries including the United States, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Finland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden. The largest share — about 250 — were resettled to the United States. A further group of refugees were flown directly from Kyrgyzstan to their host countries (Source: UNHCR — Update on Uzbek refugees; The New Humanitarian).

A new Uzbek community in the West

This resettlement created a distinct layer within the Uzbek diaspora in the West — a wave of political refugees. Whereas Uzbek communities in the U.S. and Europe had previously consisted mainly of students, labor migrants, and descendants of Bukharan émigrés, from 2005 they were joined by people granted asylum in connection with the Andijan events. This community often became known for diaspora activism and human-rights and media initiatives (Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Andijon refugees; UNHCR Refugees magazine, 2006).

Some who returned

Not all the refugees remained in exile. In 2006 it was reported that several families — some refugees resettled to the United States — had unexpectedly returned to Uzbekistan; the episode drew wide discussion both within the diaspora and among observers. Such cases show the complexity of the resettlement process and the varied fates of the refugees (Source: RFE/RL — Andijon Refugees in U.S. Make Surprise Return Home, 2006).

Wider context: a turning point in relations

The refugee issue also affected the foreign policy of the time. After Kyrgyzstan evacuated the refugees via UNHCR, Uzbekistan condemned the step. At the same time, in July 2005 Uzbekistan demanded that the U.S. military base on its territory (Karshi-Khanabad, 'K-2') be vacated. Thus the months after Andijan were a turning point from the perspective of both migration and geopolitics (Source: Eurasianet; UNHCR — UNHCR regrets order to leave Uzbekistan, 2006).

Why this history matters

The post-2005 resettlement is a rare event in the history of Uzbek migration: a relatively small but well-documented group of political refugees dispersed in one go to nearly a dozen Western countries. It added new centres to the diaspora map and shows that the modern Uzbek diaspora is made up of diverse streams — labor, education, and asylum (Source: UNHCR Refugees magazine, 2006; RFE/RL).