Human Rights and Democracy - Official Documents

Women’s rights
Gender discrimination is prohibited by Uzbek law. Women are generally well
represented in senior positions. The Women’s Committee of Uzbekistan was
established in 1991 to promote the legal rights of women.
However, concerns persisted about the treatment of women. Independent human
rights groups have reported allegations of female suspects being raped while in
detention facilities and of an unofficial policy of forced sterilisation of women in
poorer rural areas, as a means of controlling birth rates.
The Uzbek Ministry of Health worked with the EU and UNICEF to carry out the
Mother and Child Health Project, which continued throughout 2010. The project
centred on training and mentoring of health providers in low-cost, high-impact
techniques. The British NGO HealthProm contributed to this project by delivering
training in neonatal healthcare.
Children’s rights
Uzbekistan is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and
according to Uzbek government statistics, more than 50% of the state budget is
allocated to education, and literacy rates rose from 97.7% in 1991 to 99.3% in 2003.
The Uzbek labour code sets the minimum age for employment at 16 years, and the
constitution prohibits forced labour. In February, an amendment was made to the
code on administrative responsibility which stipulates that employers who fail to
protect minors will be in violation of labour legislation. The amendment also made
parents responsible for preventing minors from working in adverse conditions.
In his appearance before the UN Human Rights Committee in March, Akmal Saidov,
director of the Uzbek National Human Rights Centre, said that the issue of child
labour was an “absolute priority” for Uzbekistan. Uzbek officials denied that there
was mass mobilisation of child labour in the cotton harvest.
However, child labour during the cotton harvest remained a concern. While it
appears that there was an attempt in certain regions to limit the use of younger
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