HUMAN RIGHTS

Promotion of Legal
Education, legal culture and
Human Rights Culture,
protection of human rights
and freedoms
 Human rights are rights we have simply because we
exist as human beings - they are not granted by any
state. These universal rights are inherent to us all,
regardless of nationality, sex, national or ethnic
origin, color, religion, language, or any other status.
They range from the most fundamental - the right to
life - to those that make life worth living, such as the
rights to food, education, work, health, and liberty.
 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted by
the UN General Assembly in 1948, was the first legal document
to set out the fundamental human rights to be universally
protected. The UDHR, which turns 75 on 10 December 2023,
continues to be the foundation of all international human rights
law. Its 30 articles provide the principles and building blocks of
current and future human rights conventions, treaties and other
legal instruments. The UDHR, together with the 2 covenants - the
International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights, and the
International Covenant for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights -
make up the International Bill of Rights.
 The principle of universality of human rights is the cornerstone
of international human rights law. This means that we are all
equally entitled to our human rights. This principle, as first
emphasized in the UDHR, is repeated in many international
human rights conventions, declarations, and resolutions.

 Human rights are inalienable. They should not be taken away,

except in specific situations and according to due process. For
example, the right to liberty may be restricted if a person is
found guilty of a crime by a court of law.
 Article 1 of the UDHR states: “All human beings are born free
and equal in dignity and rights.” Freedom from discrimination,
set out in Article 2, is what ensures this equality.

 Non-discrimination cuts across all international human rights

law. This principle is present in all major human rights treaties.
It also provides the central theme of 2 core instruments: the
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination, and the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
 All human rights are indivisible and interdependent.
This means that one set of rights cannot be enjoyed
fully without the other. For example, making progress
in civil and political rights makes it easier to exercise
economic, social and cultural rights. Similarly,
violating economic, social and cultural rights can
negatively affect many other rights.
 All States have ratified at least 1 of the 9 core human rights treaties, as well as 1
of the 9 optional protocols. Eighty per cent of States have ratified 4 or more.
This means that States have obligations and duties under international law to
respect, protect and fulfill human rights.

 The obligation to respect means that States must refrain from interfering with
or curtailing the enjoyment of human rights.
 The obligation to protect requires States to protect individuals and groups
against human rights abuses.
 The obligation to fulfill means that States must take positive action to facilitate
the enjoyment of basic human rights.
 Meanwhile, as individuals, while we are entitled to our human rights – but, we
should also respect and stand up for the human rights of others.
 However, the Universal Declaration and other human rights treaties are more
than just noble aspirations. They are essential legal principles. To meet their
international human rights obligations, many nations have incorporated these
principles into their own laws. This provides an opportunity for individuals to
have a complaint settled by a court in their own country.

 Individuals from some countries may also be able to take a complaint of human
rights violations to a United Nations committee of experts, which would then
give its opinion.

 In addition, education about human rights is just as important as having laws to

protect people. Long term progress can really only be made when people are
aware of what human rights are and what standards exist.
Enhancement of the legal culture and awareness
of the population in Uzbekistan

 Increasing legal culture and awareness are fundamental principles of a fair

and prosperous society. In Uzbekistan, the promotion of legal culture and
the development of the legal awareness of the population have become
important tasks in recent years. The realm of this is seen and proven solely
by the arsenal of legal acts adopted over the past years, as well as the
colossal reforms carried out by the country's leadership.

 A clear indication of the fact, that this issue is under the attention of the
head of state himself, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat
Mirziyoyev, is his words about the necessity to continue work to improve
legal awareness and legal culture in society, educating children in this spirit
from a very early age, which were said with special care on December 7,
2019, in the palace of international forums “Uzbekistan” at a ceremonial
meeting in honor of the 27th anniversary of the adoption of the
Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
 A clear indication of the fact, that this issue is under the
attention of the head of state himself, the President of the
Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, is his words
about the necessity to continue work to improve legal
awareness and legal culture in society, educating children
in this spirit from a very early age, which were said with
special care on December 7, 2019, in the palace of
international forums “Uzbekistan” at a ceremonial
meeting in honor of the 27th anniversary of the adoption
of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
 A reflection of full-scale work in the field of legislative regulation of issues
of increasing the legal culture and legal awareness of the population in
Uzbekistan is the adoption in recent years of more than 10 normative legal
acts of strategic importance, among which are the Laws of the Republic of
Uzbekistan “On the Prevention of Crimes”, “On the Provision of Legal
Assistance for state account" and "On the dissemination of legal
information and ensuring access to it", Decree of the President of the
Republic of Uzbekistan "On radical improvement of the system of
increasing legal awareness and legal culture in society", Resolution of the
Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On approval of the
Regulations on monitoring and evaluation of measures to increase legal
culture in society”, On approval of the Program of measures to improve
legal culture in society for 2022-2023” and “On approval of the regulations
on the procedure for discussing the causes of crimes and the conditions that
allowed them to be committed.”
 It should be especially noted that the constitutional and legal
consolidation of issues of increasing legal awareness and legal
culture in the country is article 56 of the new people’s
Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, adopted by
referendum on April 30 and came into force on April 1 of this
year, which establishes that national human rights institutions
complement existing forms and means of protecting human
rights and freedoms, promote the development of civil society
and enhance the culture of human rights. In addition, the duty of
citizens to comply with the Constitution and laws, and respect
the rights, freedoms, honor, and dignity of other people is
reflected in the norm of article 60 of the primary law of the
country.
 A particularly significant and large legal basis for accelerating
work in this direction was also the Decree of the President of the
Republic of Uzbekistan dated January 9, 2019, № DP-5618 “On
radical improvement of the system for increasing legal
awareness and legal culture in society,” based on which the
main tasks of increasing legal awareness and culture in society
were identified. In particular, by this legal document of the
country's leadership, conceptual ideas have been developed and
implemented to establish in society the spirit of respect for laws
- the key to building a democratic rule of law state and a high
legal culture - a guarantee of the country's development, as well
as the establishment of a mechanism for increasing legal
awareness and legal culture in society on the basis systemic and
interconnected way and according to the principle of individual -
family - mahalla - educational institution - organization - society.
 In addition, this decree of the head of state set the task of ensuring the
development, creation, and launch of the national informational and
legal system of the Republic of Uzbekistan the “[Link]” till July 1,
2019, which was supposed to include a portal of free consultations to
the population. Subsequently, this national information and legal
system is currently fully functioning and it provides daily comprehensive
legal answers to most questions of citizens not only of our country but
also for foreign ones.

 Another legal regulation of the issues of increasing legal awareness and

legal culture of the population and the indispensable implementation of
the tasks set by the head of state was the creation, at the initiative of
the government of the country, and further state registration of the
non-governmental non-profit institution of “Madad” on September 12,
2019, by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The
institution, being a civil society one, currently operates as free legal
assistance to the population by providing them with online
consultations and clarifications on legal issues.
 One of the significant political and legal steps in this direction was also the
adoption and approval by the government of the country - the Cabinet of
Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan of a program of measures to improve the
legal culture in society for 2022-2023. By the approved program, tasks have been
set for the implementation of training courses on “Human Rights”, “Women’s
Rights”, and “Child’s Rights” in higher educational institutions and centers for
retraining and advanced training of personnel.

 Positive innovations in legislation include the concept of improving the legal

culture in society, which was first developed and approved by decree and on the
initiative of the head of state, and is the only one of its kind in the entire history
of independent Uzbekistan. In turn, this legal act approved the main directions of
work to improve the legal culture of the population in the interaction of the
individual, the state, and society. In particular, as an initial foundation, it was
established that active work in this area should be carried out primarily in the
family, which is the unit of society. In other words, legal education in the family
and increasing the legal culture of minors by explaining to them the basic rules of
behavior in society are established as the goal of the state in this area.
 It is important to note that among all other areas, strengthening the role of such
institutions of civil society as the mahalla in increasing the legal culture and
awareness of the population, as well as intensifying works on the same issues in
educational institutions, are identified as tasks of strategic importance.
Subsequently, as practical measures to implement these tasks, work has been
done in the form of launching a weekly day of legal information, organizing
mobile court hearings and open dialogue and official meetings with prominent
legal scholars of the country both in educational institutions and in an institution
of civil society - mahalla. A positive addition to these was also the approval of the
procedure for improving the legal culture of state civil servants permanently,
which is ultimately aimed at increasing the legal awareness of all members of the
population to build an exclusively legal state with a strong civil society.

 A particularly noticeable and socio-legal change in the field of improving the legal
literacy of citizens was certainly the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On the
provision of legal assistance at the expense of the state”, based on which
citizens of the country were granted the right to receive legal assistance at the
expense of the state in the presence of certain circumstances. It must be
emphasized that for the first time at the legislative level the concepts of “legal
assistance at the expense of the state”, “low-income person”, “information
system “legal assistance””, “register of lawyers providing legal assistance at the
expense of the state”, are disclosed.
THANK YOU FOR
YOUR ATTENTION