Europe & CIS

Human rights promotion in Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan, 25 March 2008 – At a UNDP-supported roundtable discussion, lawyers in Tashkent city shared their experiences following new laws abolishing capital punishment and reforming the system of arrest. This is a further step in the development of a system of law in Uzbekistan, underpinned by professional institutions, which respects and promotes human rights.

On 1 January 2008, laws came into force which abolished the death penalty and made courts the only bodies able to issue arrest warrants.  About 50 public and private lawyers met in Tashkent on 20 March to discuss the implementation of these laws. Welcoming the reforms, they noted that there is still room for improvement of the law.

In addition to problems of access to legal representation and effective protection of clients, the participants noted a need to develop procedures related to the replacement of death penalties with long-term or life imprisonment. The participants learned about treatment of prisoners sentenced to long-term imprisonment in from European and CIS states and the USA.

Gulnara Ishankhanova, director of the Tashkent branch of the Uzbekistan Bar Association, which organized the roundtable, said it was an important meeting, which allowed discussion of the new laws and the challenges in their implementation. She said similar meetings will be held soon with law enforcement bodies and judges.

This event took place under UNDP’s project “Development of Capacities of the National Human Rights Institutions in Uzbekistan”. The main objective of this project is to strengthen the capacities of the national human rights institutions and relevant bodies to effectively fulfill their mandates for promotion and protection of human rights in Uzbekistan; enhancing legislation and judicial mechanisms are an important complement to this task.

The project focuses primarily on activities relating to human rights matters that form part of the mandate and day-to-day work of operational national human rights institutions, which would consequently improve the promotion and protection of human rights.

Other activities involving Uzbek legal professionals, UNDP and technical experts have covered matters of civic and corporate legislation, the enforcement of recommendations made by UN human rights treaty bodies and public awareness-raising of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

See the project website here.

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