February 1, 2021, Uzbekistan — A female journalist has reported being harassed by an official at the Uzbekistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) after applying for accreditation. The Coalition For Women In Journalism condemns the official’s misconduct, and demands authorities take action on the issue.

Agnieszka Pikulicka is a journalist originally from Poland, now based in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. She took to Twitter after her application for accreditation was rejected, after six months of waiting. She said, according to the law, the ministry has to respond within two months. According to Agnieszka, she was granted accreditation last year but was advised, by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to apply for a separate accreditation each time she wanted to write an article.
The condition of getting accreditation for each article hinders her work as it takes two, sometimes eight months, to get accredited. Given those time constraints, Agnieszka would be able to write only six articles per year.

“I got accredited 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 texting me with offers to meet,” she wrote on Twitter. “He continued sending me texts 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.”

She said after the sexual harassment ended, she was pressured to write positive articles about the quarantine because “there’s too much negative news”, she was told. 

“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 texted again saying that I should write a positive article.”

The journalist said the situation in Uzbekistan is deplorable, and the government must be held accountable. 

“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.”

While talking to CFWIJ, Agnieszka said she has since received her accreditation, and an official was fired from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

When asked if she is facing any troubles working in Uzbekistan, Agnieska said, “The only trouble, the only problem I had, was with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the fact that they did not want to give me accreditation. I am basically the only one who lives permanently in Uzbekistan because there are other foreign, English-speaking journalists accredited in Uzbekistan but they come here from time to time, and it’s completely different.”

According to Agnieszka, she is the only one who lives there permanently. “Especially because of that, it was ridiculous they didn't want to give me accreditation. The only problems I face are with the government and the fact that they ignored me for so long. They made me wait for six months before they refused my accreditation, but I think because of the social pressure, because of the fact that I spoke about it publicly and everyone in Uzbekistan supported me.”

She added, “Both Uzbek-speaking and Russian-speaking media just smashed the government, the MFA. They supported me so much that, within a day, I received accreditation…It also shows that the Uzbek society is changing, that people are no longer afraid to speak up and that the authorities completely underestimated the power of the internet.” 

CFWIJ is concerned about the challenging environments that impede a journalist’s work and threaten the principles of press freedom. We urge the Uzbekistan authorities to reevaluate its media accreditation process and address the inappropriate behavior among its officials.