The last year in Uzbekistan was a year, when all female rights activists, media, and the government started taking an accelerated path toward justice for women in terms of domestic and gender-based violence. Many cases were brought to justice, but even more cases were lost because of the inefficiency of the law before criminals.
However, recent amendments to the judicial system, specifically, the law “On introducing amendments and addenda to some legislative acts of the Republic of Uzbekistan in connection with further improvement of the system of reliable protection of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of women and children” was a breakthrough for the nation.
The amendments include prolongation of imprisonment for such crimes as pedophilia (from 3 years before to 20 years now), domestic violence (up to 12 years), dissemination of naked photographies and/or threatening to do so (up to 3 years), as well as fines for insulting one's spouse (up to $524) and public sexual harassment (5 days of liberty deprivation or $131). And most importantly, crimes against children’s sexual freedom have been equated with crimes against peace and human security, which means that humanitarian acts in the form of early parole or commutation of the punishment with a lighter one will not be applied to the persons who committed them
The "Daryo" correspondent held an interview with Charlotte Adriaen, the Ambassador of the European Union to the Republic of Uzbekistan, to inquire about her opinion on the amendments.
Starting with the main question of the interview, the ambassador said:
"The amendment in fact is a landmark, it's a very important amendment and it's definitely opening up for a new period of time." And that "previously there were loopholes in the protection of women and children and I know that Uzbekistan has been working so much."
Moving on to the EU's contribution to the equalizing rights of women with those of men, especially through the BOMCA (Borderline Management Program in Central Asia) program, she mentioned:
"You cannot have a peaceful society if you have accepted violence against women, this is not possible. Violence against women and children be it sexual, physical, or economic is not acceptable. It creates a society which cannot be sustainable."
"Whatever you do, meaning, whether you work on agriculture, green transition, on the digital sector, public financial management, anything, you have to think how can this be gender-responsive."
When inquired about systemic sexism in Uzbekistan and Europe's example of dealing with it, her response was:
"Minds don't change overnight. It's not because now you have a law, that all women and girls will be protected. This is going to take time. A lot of people will be involved to make sure that this law is implemented."
"What is more important is that women themselves are not afraid of telling that they are abused, or that they've been beaten... Nobody wants to be beaten."
The topic of children's rights was also raised during the interview. The ambassador brought up the recent incident that happened in Khorezm and extended her answer on children's rights in Uzbekistan:
"And this is really important also for children that they also see that they have an opportunity, not only the boys but also the girls."
"Children have a right to have a childhood without violence and they should enjoy their childhood, learn, and get experiences that are positive. And with positive experiences, they will participate in developing positive societies."
Lastly, on the question of how Uzbekistan should preserve the achieved and improve more in combatting gender-based violence, she said:
"The amendment is groundbreaking and then it will be important to follow it, to monitor it. How is it being implemented, and how is it changing? For that you need data."
"Remember, women can and should be part of development, even in terms of economic development... We strongly believe that this is also really important that women have the same opportunities as men."
Reported by Nigora Umarova
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