U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in the first stop of a sweep through five Central Asian countries, as rights groups urge him to speak out about human rights and freedom of speech.

Kerry landed Saturday in the Kyrgyz capital for a one-day visit, the first of a one-country-per-day tour that also includes Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

U.S. officials see Kerry’s visits as a means to assure the Central Asian nations of the strength of their U.S. ties at a time when relations between the U.S. and their neighbor, Russia, are cooling. But Kerry is also under some pressure to speak publicly about the shortcomings of the group of former Soviet republics.

Human rights issues

U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent a public letter to Kerry on Friday urging him to push for the release of political prisoners in each of the countries he visits. He asked Kerry to emphasize the U.S.’s “strong commitment to universally recognized democratic principles” as he meets with each nation’s foreign minister.

The U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch also called on Kerry to express concern over the nations’ human rights records, asking that Kerry press for the release of people wrongfully imprisoned, end impunity for torture, and uphold other key rights commitments.

Earlier in the week, the Committee to Protect Journalists called on Kerry to bring attention to journalists jailed for political reasons and online censorship, and to decry physical attacks on members of the media. CPJ says its research indicates media freedom has “steadily worsened” in those nations in the post-Soviet era.
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