Uzbek human rights activists met in the northwestern French of Angers on May 6 for the first meeting of the Uzbekistan Human Rights Society since it was forced into exile following the bloody events in Andijon in 2005.
Tolib Yoqubov, the head of the group, fled Uzbekistan in August 2006, fearing persecution.
He told RFE/RL's Uzbek Service that his group is now registered in France and campaigning in the West against the Uzbek government of President Islam Karimov.
Yoqubov said he believes the human rights situation in Uzbekistan is deteriorating even though some Western politicians have noted progress.
The Uzbekistan Human Rights Society was a leading human rights group in Uzbekistan before it fled and 10 of its members remain jailed.