On 31 January 2022 there was held a regular online meeting of the members of the Commission on the Observance of the Constitutional Human Rights and Freedoms under the Office of the Authorized Person for Human Rights (Ombudsman).

The agenda of the regular meeting of the Commission under the Ombudsman included the outcomes of the activities of the Authorized Person of the Oliy Majlis for Human Rights (Ombudsman) in 2021, the objectives set for the Ombudsman’s team in 2022, and identified the main directions of activities in ensuring human rights and other issues.

Speaking at the meeting the Authorized Person of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Human Rights (Ombudsman) and Chairman of the Commission Feruza Eshmatova noted that 2021 occupies a special place in the history of the Ombudsman’s institution and this year there have been big changes. These reforms are important not only for the Ombudsman’s activities, but also for the protection of human rights and interests. In particular, the fact that two presidential documents concerning the activities of the Ombudsman were adopted last year demonstrates the priority of ensuring legitimate human rights and interests in our country. In response, the Ombudsman’s team was able to work on a number of issues, including complaints handling, combating torture, improving legislation, developing international relations and ensuring transparency. When analyzing the activities of the Authorized Person for Human Rights (Ombudsman) in 2021, we can see that the use of measures and their effectiveness has increased by 2.4 times compared to 2020. I think that within the framework of the New Development Strategy of Uzbekistan for the next 5 years the Ombudsman will strive to increase these indicators every year. Of course, this requires wide introduction of information and communication technologies in the activities of the institution, development of new advanced methods of ensuring human rights, increasing the status of regional representatives, who started working on a permanent basis in 2022, effective use of the right of legislative initiative.

At the meeting it was noted that in 2021 the Ombudsman received 18,738 appeals from citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan, citizens and ombudsmen of foreign states, stateless persons, public organizations and other legal entities (in 2020 – 14,975). In particular, 16 559 appeals were received from citizens, 2 120 from persons held in pre-trial detention facilities and penitentiary institutions, and 59 from foreign states.

Most appeals were received from the city of Tashkent (2,588), Qashqadaryo region (2,530), Surxondaryo region (2,000), Tashkent region (1,658) and Samarqand region (1,302).

In 2021 the Ombudsman sent 36 conclusions (16 in 2020), 14 petitions (13 in 2020) and 44 claims (11 in 2020) to state bodies and organizations to restore the violated rights of citizens.

In addition, the members of the Commission were provided with information about the results achieved by reviewing the appeals and monitoring visits to places of detention by public groups on the detection and prevention of torture in accordance with the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan of 26 June 2021 “On additional measures to improve the system for detecting and preventing cases of torture”.

During the meeting members of the Commission commented on the changes and results of the work of the Ombudsman. The meeting also discussed the tasks facing the Ombudsman in 2022, as well as the work plans and made proposals on these issues. At the end of the event a relevant decision of the commission was adopted.