Director of the National Center of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Human Rights Akmal Saidov held a video conference with UN international expert George Tugushi on 24 April 2020 at the initiative of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Regional Office for Central Asia and the UN Resident Coordinator in Uzbekistan.

The purpose of the event was to discuss the draft of the National Strategy of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Human Rights that developed on the initiative of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

During the video conference, the international expert praised the ongoing democratic reforms in Uzbekistan saying: “I regularly follow the Economist magazine, and recently read a number of materials on political and legal reforms in Uzbekistan. I am also aware of the recent launch of the Georgian bank and the active participation of the former Minister of Georgia in education reforms in Uzbekistan.

The close cooperation of your country with the United Nations in the field of human rights is also noteworthy. I believe that the National Human Rights Strategy that developed on the initiative of the President is a vital and firm step in this direction. Reading this document, I noticed that international practice is widely used”.

The draft of the National Strategy was discussed by government agencies and civil society institutions. In addition, it was posted for public discussion on regulation.gov.uz and on the official website of the National Centre for Human Rights. During the discussions, more than 500 proposals were received from more than 100 government agencies, structures and non-government non-profit organizations.

Additionally, national consultations on the draft of the National Strategy, which were held on 28^th of February this year, were actively attended by representatives of civil society institutions, the media, international organizations and the diplomatic corps.

The UN Resident Coordinator in the Republic of Uzbekistan and UN agencies, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Regional Office for Central Asia, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, and the British Embassy in Tashkent presented their proposals.

In preparing the draft National Strategy, the experience of Azerbaijan, South Korea, Lithuania, Latvia, Sweden, China, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Finland was directly studied. Besides, briefings on the draft National Strategy were also held in Geneva, London and Moscow.

The draft of the National Strategy was posted on the National Human Rights Centre's website for the second time on March 23^rd this year for public discussion. Currently, the project is being implemented in cooperation with more than 30 government agencies and non-government organizations. More than 50 new proposals have been submitted.

During the negotiations, the parties agreed to discuss the proposals of the UN expert on the draft National Strategy as soon as they are ready.

For reference: G. Tugushi was Ombudsman of the Republic of Georgia (2009-2012), Minister of Corrections of Georgia (2012), and he is a member of the UN Committee against Torture. He is currently an expert on human rights issues at the United Nations, the European Union, the European Council and several other international organizations.

National Center
of the Republic of Uzbekistan
for Human Rights