Comments of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the Compilation
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Comments of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the Compilation prepared by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in accordance with paragraph 15 (b) of the Annex to Human Rights Council Resolution 5/1 (Universal Periodic Review) I. BACKGROUND AND FRAMEWORK A. Scope of international obligations 1. Uzbekistan was encouraged to ratify ICRMW, OP-CRC-AC and OP-CRC-SC; OP- CEDAW; OP-CAT and the Rome Statute; the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its Protocol, the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, the Convention on Reduction of Statelessness, and ILO Convention 138. It was also encouraged to make the declarations under articles 21 and 22 of CAT. This year, the ILO conventions No 138 and No 182 concerning the minimum age for admission to employment and eliminating the worst forms of child labor were ratified. The Parliament ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights aiming at the abolition of death penalty and two Optional Protocols to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, concerning the involvement of children in armed conflicts, on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, as well as the Protocol against Trafficking in Humans, especially women and children, and punishment for it, which is included in the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime dated 2000. B. Constitutional and legislative framework 2. In 2005, the Human Rights Committee (HR Committee) was concerned that the provisions on states of emergency do not explicitly specify, or place limits, on derogations from rights that may be made in emergencies. In accordance with Article 93 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan (p. 19), the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan in exceptional circumstances (real external threat, mass riots, major catastrophes, natural disasters, epidemics), in order to ensure the security of citizens, introduces a state of emergency throughout the whole territory or in selected areas of Uzbekistan and within three days submits adopted decision for approval by chambers of Oliy Majlis (Parliament). The conditions and procedure of the emergency should be regulated by a special law. The Republic of Uzbekistan devotes attention to safeguarding human rights in a state of emergency. On 20 August 1999 the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan «On Protection of Population and Territories from Natural and Man-made Emergencies», which establishes principles for protection of civilians in emergency situations: humanism, priority of human life and health, transparency, timeliness and accuracy of the information, preventive measures to protect against emergencies, were enacted. The Law defines the main functions of governmental bodies (central and local) to protect the population and territory at time of emergency, as well as the rights of citizens, foreign nationals and stateless persons to protect lives and health, appeal to state bodies, getting compensation for damage caused to their health during the emergency. On 3 August 2007 the Government of Uzbekistan adopted the State Program on Forecasting and Prevention of Emergencies, which aims at ensuring the guaranteed level of protection of the population and territories from emergencies, reducing and mitigating risks and consequences of accidents, catastrophes, natural disasters in the Republic of Uzbekistan. C. Institutional and human rights infrastructure 3. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) recommended that Uzbekistan consider establishing a national institution for human rights in accordance with the Paris principles. In accordance with the Paris Principles, the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action, national human rights institutions have been established in Uzbekistan: the Authorized Person of Oliy Majlis for Human Rights (Ombudsman), the National Center for Human Rights. Significant role in carrying out the control functions to ensure compliance with human rights legislation belongs to the Authorized Person of Oliy Majlis for Human Rights (Ombudsman), who promotes by means provided to her/him not only the restoration of violated rights, but also improvement of the legislation of Uzbekistan. Consideration of citizens’ applications, assisting in the restoration of their violated rights and freedoms is one of the priority tasks of the Ombudsman in carrying out her/his activities to further develop the interaction of the Authorized Person for Human Rights with state authorities, courts and law enforcement bodies in order to ensure full and effective compliance and protection of human rights and freedoms in Uzbekistan. On 31 October 1996 the Presidential Decree established the National Center for Human Rights. This body was created to coordinate activities of all governmental and non-governmental organizations, related to the protection of human rights. The Center carries out research on various aspects of protecting and promoting human rights, both nationally and internationally: prepares national reports on implementation of international human rights obligations in treaty bodies of the UN; carries out training programs, seminars, lecture courses and study tours; assists in designing and implementing educational programs on human rights; compiles and disseminates information on human rights; develops technical cooperation and information links with international centers or human rights organizations; coordinates on-site activities of international agencies providing technical assistance on issues of democratization, governance and protection of human rights; receives and considers complaints from the public on human rights violation issues. II. PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS ON THE GROUND A. Cooperation with human rights mechanisms 1. Cooperation with treaty bodies 4. Uzbekistan provided additional information in comments to the concluding observations of CESCR and CERD, on a wide range of issues. In comments to CAT, Uzbekistan highlighted its partial disagreement with some recommendations of CAT, in particular relating to the definition of torture; the request to publicly condemn torture; and the qualification of the use of force during the May 2005 events in Andijan. Uzbekistan’s comments on the Concluding Observations of the Committee Against Torture with regard to the Third Periodic National Report: (Regarding the definition of torture) We do not agree with this observation of the Committee Against Torture, because complicity in using torture is defined as torture according to Article 235 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan (CC). The crime, envisaged by Article 235 «torture» of the CC, is at the Chapter «Crimes Against Justice» and subjects of this crime are the law-enforcement officers and all persons, involved in the investigation of crimes in an official capacity. Expanding the circle of individuals, whose actions are subject to Article 235 «torture», will require the transfer of this Article from Chapter «Crimes Against Justice» to elsewhere within the CC. This would affect the assessment and significance of the social danger of this act, and its compliance with the meaning and spirit of the Article 1 of the Convention Against Torture. The wording of Article 235 is performed in compliance with all rules of the legislative techniques of Uzbekistan and consistent with the purpose and meaning of Article 1 of the Convention Against Torture. 2 The role performed (organizer, executor, instigator, accomplice) in the commission of a crime does not alter the qualification of criminal act during instituting criminal proceeding against a person for committing a specific crime. All three branches of state power publicly condemned and are condemning the use of torture. Matters of strict adherence of the law-enforcement officials to international obligations under the Convention Against Torture are regularly examined on the collegial boards of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor General's Office. According to the Order #31 of the Prosecutor-General of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated 9 December 2004, prosecution bodies every 10 days carry out inspection of the legality of detention in temporary detention centers of the local internal affairs bodies. In accordance with the Order #40 of the Prosecutor-General dated 17 February 2005 «On the radical improvement of prosecutorial supervision to ensure the rights and liberties of persons in criminal proceedings», a duty of strict compliance with and enforcement of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, was imposed on the prosecution officers. All the above-mentioned orders of the Prosecutor-General are the result of consideration and discussion of these issues at the Coordinating Council of law-enforcement agencies under the Prosecutor-General's Office. Uzbekistan Government’s assessment of Andijan events in May 2005 as the large-scale terrorist act was accepted by the international community at the meetings of the UN Third Committee in September 2006. The anti-terrorist operation, which involved military and special services carried out in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan. (Regarding condemnation of torture) All three branches of state power publicly condemned and are condemning the use of torture. Matters of strict adherence of the law-enforcement officials to international obligations