DUSHANBE, November 23, 2012, Asia-Plus -- EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has pledged to raise human rights issues during a visit next week to Central Asia, radio Liberty reports.

Ashton will meet the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan to discuss a whole range of issues.

Ashton told RFE/RL in an interview in Brussels on November 22 that the European Union believes that "very rarely is isolation the answer" when it comes to human rights violations.