The United Nations refugee agency today warmly welcomed a decision by Kazakhstan’s authorities not to extradite an Uzbek refugee, despite a request from Uzbekistan, but instead to hand him over to the UN for immediate permanent resettlement with his family.

Expressing shock at Kyrgyzstan’s extradition of four Uzbek refugees and one asylum seeker back to Uzbekistan, the United Nations refugee agency said today it feared for their safety, stressed that the forced return violated the 1951 Refugee Convention and called on the Uzbek authorities to grant humanitarian access to the deportees.

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said today it was “extremely concerned” about the fate of four Uzbek refugees in detention in Kyrgyzstan, who fled their country after last year’s killings in the city of Andijan, following a decision on Tuesday by the country’s Supreme Court which means that all four have now been denied refugee status.

Marking one year since the tragic killings in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan, in which hundreds of people reportedly lost their lives, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour today conveyed her deep sympathy to all the families affected, saying the consequences of these tragic events continue to be widely felt.