Uzbek State Ignores its Citizens

Despite a law requiring state institutions in Uzbekistan to respond properly to complaints made by members of the public, officials continue to ignore them and persecute them if they become too persistent

My organisation, the Human Rights Alliance of Uzbekistan, has conducted a survey of complaints that citizens have submitted to various official agencies. Our conclusion is that people remain largely unaware of their rights under the 1994 law, and that roundtables and public debates involving human rights activists and lawyers are needed to raise awareness. We would also recommend opening a dialogue with officials who continue to violate this law.

Article 3 of the law bans the persecution of those who submit complaints. However, our experience with the law enforcement agencies, the courts and the prosecution service has revealed numerous cases where individuals have been pressured.

One human rights activist came to us after he received threats for lodging a complaint about problems at a coal mine.

In another case, a man called Hamza Jalilov filed a complaint concerning a ruling in a property dispute. Officers from the National Security Service then burste burst into his home, demanding that he withdraw his complaint or face “trouble”.

A former prisoner, Umid Mirzoev, filed a complaint about the verdict passed against him, which lawyers and human rights activists said was wrongful. He was threatened, beaten up, and told to “stop complaining”.

Frequently citizens are obstructed in their efforts to file a complaint, and are prevented from entering court buildings, prosecutor’s offices and other state institutions in order to do so.

The Law on Citizens’ Complaints states that anyone who persecutes someone who files a complaint should face criminal prosecution. We would like to see the government put this provision into action and publicly condemn such wrongdoing. There should also be tougher penalties for officials who delay responding for bureaucratic reasons, for negligence, incompetence, disrespectful behaviour, and wasting people’s time.

Society, too, needs to become more active. I tell people that if the authorities reject their complaints, they should hold demonstrations in order to get their attention. There is no other way at the present time.

In a speech several years ago, President Islam Karimov came up with the slogan “from a strong state to a strong civil society”, and said citizens and human rights activists, should work alongside parliamentary committees to achieve consensus decisions.

It is time to take him up on the offer. Members of parliament should exercise scrutiny over the way the law is observed and come up with recommendations for ways to improve it.

Yelena Urlaeva is leader of the Human Rights Alliance of Uzbekistan.

This article was produced as part of IWPR’s News Briefing Central Asia output, funded by the National Endowment for Democracy.