For the first time, the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated June 22, 2020 approved the National Strategy on Human Rights and the “Roadmap” for its implementation. The National Center of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Human Rights is tasked with regular monitoring of the quality and timely implementation of the National Strategy and “Roadmap”.

Information on the approval of the National Strategy of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Human Rights was published in six UN languages and distributed as an official document of the 74th session of the General Assembly.

The National Strategy envisages the adoption of 53 normative and legal acts, the development and implementation of 37 sets of measures, as well as the ratification of 8 international treaties - a total of 98 documents.

The National Strategy envisages the development of a total of 33 draft laws (twenty new darft laws, four laws on amendments and additions to existing laws, nine laws in force in the new edition).

In this regard, first of all, it should be noted that on August 17, 2020, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan signed the Law “On Amendments and Additions to the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On Combating Combating Human Trafficking”. This Law shall enter into force six months after the date of its official publication. The purpose of the new law is to regulate relations in the field of combating human trafficking and to ensure the guaranteed protection of the rights and legitimate interests of victims of human trafficking.

On the basis of international documents, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the relevant laws of the UN and the OSCE, a new draft law “On freedom of conscience and religious organizations” has been developed.

The law is aimed at regulating the relationship between state bodies and religious organizations to ensure the right of everyone to freedom of conscience, equality of citizens in addition to religion, inter-ethnic and inter-religious harmony in society.  After the draft law was put into public discussion on the official website of the Legislative Chamber of Parliament, many proposals have been received to improve it. This, in turn, will allow to bring the project to a more complete.

Currently, the laws “On Employment” and “On the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” were adopted by the Legislative Chamber and approved by the Senate. 

At the same time, 5 codes on judicial activity, namely the Criminal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Civil Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Code of Administrative Liability, are being developed in a new edition. The draft new edition of the “Labor code” was referred to public discussion.

The legal framework of the judicial community is being formed, and new draft laws “On the bar and legal practice” and “On free legal aid” have been prepared.

August 12-13, 2020 Samarkand Human Rights Web Forum was held dedicated to the topical issues of protection of youth rights. The Samarkand resolution “Youth 2020: Global Solidarity, Sustainable Development and Human Rights” was adopted at the International Conference. Recently, the Samarkand resolution was presented as an official document of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly.

At the end of a recent meeting of the Permanent Council of the  Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Samarkand resolution was distributed as an official document of the OSCE Permanent Council. By the official letter of the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the final document of the Samarkand Web Forum on Human Rights was sent to all OIC Member States.

Currently, the text of the Samarkand resolution is posted in the Official Document System of the United Nations under the number A / 74/998. The document is also published on the official website of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

The results of monitoring in the case of September 10, 2020 on the implementation of the tasks set out in the “Roadmap”on the implementation of the National Strategy showed that the execution period of the “Roadmap” was completed on 17 of 78 items in total, work on 7 items was carried out on time. It is noteworthy that even the tasks specified in Paragraph 2 are fulfilled before the deadline.

Nowadays, intensive work is underway on the implementation of eight deadlines. The work on the implementation of the tasks in 61 items, the implementation of which has not yet expired, is also continuing.

However, it was observed that the responsible organizations did not provide timely information on the implementation of the tasks set out in some items of the “Roadmap”.

Coverage of the National Strategy of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Human Rights in foreign and local media has been carried out. A total of 80, including 49 electronic, 16 printed local media, 15 foreign media participated in the coverage of the National Strategy.

National Center of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Human Rights