Kyrgyzstan promises not to deport Uzbek refugees News
Kyrgyzstan promises not to deport Uzbek refugees

[JURIST] According to a senior United Nations official, top Kyrgyz officials promised Monday not to forcibly deport Uzbek refugees who fled a bloody May uprising in Andijan [JURIST report]. Approximately 450 of the 500 Uzbeks who originally fled to Kyrgyzstan remain, with four of the refugees deported [JURIST report] earlier this month against UN objections. Assistant UN High Commissioner for Refugees Kamel Morjane stated that Acting Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev [Wikipedia profile] "confirmed that nobody will be sent back forcibly," including the 29 Uzbek refugees detained by Kyrgyz authorities and previously scheduled for return because of alleged crimes [JURIST report]. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

No lynchings reported in US for first time

On December 30, 1952, the Tuskegee Institute reported that 1952 was the first year of no lynchings of African Americans in the United States in the 71 years it had kept records. Learn more about lynching and listen to Billie Holiday's jazz recording of the 1938 protest song Strange Fruit.

USSR established

On December 30, 1922, representatives of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the Transcaucus approved the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and the Declaration of the Creation of the USSR, creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). During World War II, the USSR would also annex Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Moldova. Learn more about the history of the USSR from the BBC.