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These days, we are about to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which is the foundation of our lives. We are telling the truth if we say that our General Assembly is a solid legal foundation for all the achievements and milestones achieved in the years of independence, ensuring the comfortable life of our compatriots, protecting their rights and freedoms.
The political-legal, social-economic, cultural-educational landscape of our society has completely changed in the past short period, especially due to the ongoing deep reforms. Freedom and openness, rule of law, mutually beneficial cooperation with the world community have become the main direction of our state's policy. Adhering to the idea of building a legal democratic state and a free civil society sealed in the Constitution, a wide range of great works have been carried out and a lot of experience has been accumulated.
Based on the constitutional rule that "the people are the only source of state power", a permanent dialogue with the people was established, and an effective system was established in which the heads of state agencies report to the citizens. Openness and transparency in the activities of state bodies is expanding more and more.
As a result of the reforms in Uzbekistan, a number of activities aimed at enhancing human dignity have been carried out. Our people and the representatives of the international community see them and give their positive evaluations. The establishment of a system of communication with the people, the fundamental reform of the illogical "propiska" system, the introduction of the principle of extraterritoriality in the provision of public services, the constant reporting of officials, the establishment of requirements aimed at ensuring the openness of their activities, human rights and freedoms Among these are a number of examples, such as raising the level of respect for people, abandoning forced labor, and easing the problems of the population. Most importantly, everyone sees and feels such changes in their daily life. In future reforms, it is aimed to improve these achieved results and create additional conditions for people.
These tasks put the necessity of making strategic decisions and carrying out constitutional reforms on the agenda. In the words of our President, "It is the need of the times to reflect the answers to all these questions in our Constitution through elaborate legal norms."
The updated Constitution should create a solid legal basis and a reliable guarantee for the long-term development strategies of our country, the prosperous life of our country and people tomorrow. From this point of view, it is appropriate to note that the head of our state clearly defined three stages of the activity of the Constitutional Commission in connection with the implementation of organizational measures and amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
The first stage is to organize the adoption, compilation and analysis of proposals for amending the Constitution. The project developed on the basis of the proposals of the Constitutional Commission was presented to the Legislative Chamber of the Parliament. In this regard, the first stage of the work of the Constitutional Commission has come to an end.
The second stage is the consideration of the draft of the updated Constitution developed by the parliament in a public debate. Such a democratic approach fully corresponds to the principle that "the people are the only source and author of the Constitution."
The third stage is the adoption of the draft law on amendments to the Constitution, which was finalized as a result of public discussion, by holding a referendum. It will literally be the expression of the will of our people - a real people's Constitution.
After all, the Constitutional Commission was entrusted with the responsible task of turning our Basic Law into a real people's Constitution in accordance with the reforms and demands of the new stage of our country's development, and most importantly, after studying the will and opinion of our citizens. 47 experienced specialists from various professions and fields took part in the constitutional commission. Citizens and organizations have been given all the opportunities to send their proposals through the My Constitution online platform, neighborhoods, Councils of People's Deputies, call center, mail, including e-mail and a special telegram bot.
People — Creator of the Constitution
Today, our people and the international community recognize the need for a "New Uzbekistan - a renewed Constitution". After all, any reform is based on a strong constitutional and legal basis, it will achieve the intended good goal and noble tasks, and effective results. We can also see from the history of world countries that the development of the legal field lags behind the intensity of reforms - this can lead to a crisis of society and the state.
It should be noted that today the idea of a new Uzbekistan in which human dignity is glorified has taken a deep place in the hearts of our people and its implementation has become a national movement. The most important thing is that our people's outlook, faith in the future and the results of the reforms have increased. Our citizens are becoming active participants in the events of our country and around us, their sense of belonging to the intense democratic changes in our country is increasing and rising. The activities of the Constitutional Commission, meetings with various layers of the population, representatives of civil society institutions, experts in various fields, and residents of local neighborhoods are a clear indication of this.
The reforms of recent years have clearly demonstrated the viability of the President's idea "The people are the creators of the law" and how appropriate it is to the demands of our time. Just one example: until today, after the draft of the Constitutional Law was released for public discussion, more than 1 proposals were received until August 150. Despite the fact that the stage of public discussion on the draft law has been completed, citizens and the general public have sent more than 2,5 proposals to improve and add to various articles of the Constitution. and they are being studied.
It is worth mentioning that, based on the conclusions of the Constitutional Commission and the right of legislative initiative, a group of deputies of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis developed a draft of the Constitutional Law "On Amendments and Additions to the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan" in 2022. was introduced to the lower house of the parliament on June 21. Based on their conclusions, on June 24 of this year, the draft Constitutional law was adopted in the first reading. According to the Law "On Public Discussion of Draft Laws" and the relevant decision of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis, the draft Constitutional Law was submitted for public discussion from June 25 to July 5 of this year. The draft constitutional law was published in the newspaper "Khalk sozi" and on the electronic platform "Meningkonstitutsiyam.uz". Due to the great interest of our people and the public in the constitutional reforms and the wishes expressed by the citizens, in accordance with the relevant decisions of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis, the period of public discussion of the draft constitutional law was extended twice and continued until August 1 of this year. The proposals received were thoroughly analyzed by the members of the responsible committees based on a number of criteria.
According to the content of the draft constitutional law, it is aimed at enshrining the principles of "man - society - state", "New Uzbekistan - social state" as a constitutional rule, establishing a people-friendly state, strengthening the protection of human rights and social security.
Therefore, within the noble idea of "Society is the initiator of reforms", the role and status of civil society institutions are constitutionally strengthened in our Basic Law, the constitutional foundations for developing the institution of the family, passing on our noble human values to future generations, and further strengthening inter-ethnic harmony. is being determined.
In addition, today, when our children are emerging as creators of new Uzbekistan, in order to fully ensure the rights and interests of young people, the state policy in the field of youth, the issue of comprehensive support for the younger generation, and their rights and duties are strengthened at the constitutional level. is being placed.
In order to increase the effectiveness of the current system for the protection of human rights, the constitutional draft includes the issues of preventing child labor, reliable protection of the rights of the disabled, representatives of the elderly generation, and special chapters on ecology are included, taking into account the global changes in nature.
The important initiatives put forward in the meeting of the head of our state with the members of the Constitutional Commission on June 20 of this year brought new substance to our constitutional reforms. For example, the draft law being developed by the Constitutional Commission and the Parliament has served to reflect the standards of human dignity, honor, and pride, which are to be the first priority in all spheres, and the basis of our reforms is to glorify human dignity.
Constitutional foundations of honoring human dignity
The President brought to the attention of the public his specific proposals related to the issue of a person, his life, freedom, dignity, inviolable rights and legitimate interests. First of all, raising human dignity should be a constitutional duty and priority task of state authorities. Because a person is not a means to achieve a goal for the state and society, on the contrary, he should be the main content and source of this goal and the highest value.
It was proposed to add another important norm to our constitution: "The death penalty is prohibited in Uzbekistan." Why, "the right to life is the natural right of every human being. According to the "Rule of Miranda", which is reflected in the Constitutions and laws of many countries and international human rights documents, when arresting a person, his rights and the reason for arrest must be explained in simple language.
Another proposal is the need to develop the institution of "habeas corpus". That is, a person cannot be detained for a maximum of forty-eight hours until a court decision. If the court does not take a decision on arresting a person or restricting his freedom in another way within the specified period, it is proposed to reflect the norm that such a person should be released immediately in the Constitution. It is stated in our constitution that "the conviction of a person and the legal consequences arising from it cannot be the basis for restricting the rights of his relatives".
In our basic law, every citizen of Uzbekistan should have the right to freely move around the country, freely choose the place of residence or residence, and all citizens should be guaranteed the right to leave and return to the country without obstacles. Privacy of every citizen and its guarantees should be strengthened at the level of the Constitution.
The main goal of these proposals is to deeply integrate the idea of "For human dignity" and the main principle of our current reforms, "Man - society - state" into the content of our Constitution, and turn it into a main value in our practical life. As the President said, "the dignity, honor and pride of a person should be in the first place in all spheres from now on."
Uzbekistan - towards a social state
It is proposed to include the phrase "social state" in the new Constitution of Uzbekistan. In fact, the concepts of "human dignity" and "social state" cannot be imagined separately from each other, they require each other and are closely related.
At this point, it is worth noting that the term "welfare state" refers to the regulation of social, economic and other spheres of society's life, the establishment of principles of social justice and solidarity, and the development of a socially oriented economy. a state that expands human value and development opportunities through active policy, provides a high standard of living and social protection for all citizens.
Usually, the welfare state supports the population in need of social protection, eliminates poverty and unemployment, ensures continuous growth of citizens' employment and income, supports young entrepreneurs and women's entrepreneurship, education, health achieving sustainable development of health care and spiritual and cultural spheres, improving the social insurance system, preventing sharp social differentiation in society and mitigating social inequality, providing decent living conditions for all by revising benefits performs tasks such as creating In this sense, the welfare state implies the convergence and harmonization of the goals of civil society institutions and state organizations.
Today, our people and the world community recognize that our country is making rapid strides towards not only a social but also a just society. Special attention is paid to the creation of a unique system of ensuring the social rights of citizens, the increasing social responsibility of the state, and the fact that none of our citizens in need of social protection and financial assistance is left out of consideration, especially during the pandemic. In this sense, the general public knows that it is necessary to strengthen the rule of "New Uzbekistan" - welfare state in our Constitution, and many proposals are coming in this regard. They include in our Constitution, in particular, establishing the right of every person to receive social security in case of unemployment and disability, introducing the concept of "minimum consumption costs", creating the necessary conditions for the development of the state social services system, state pensions, allowances and other types of social assistance. are asked to introduce norms aimed at determining the provision of healthy and balanced development of orphans and children deprived of parental care by the state and society.
In addition, in the Constitution, the development of the constitutional foundations of the family institution, the reflection of the norm on the prevention of child labor, and the determination of their constitutional rights and guarantees based on the principle that people with disabilities are full members of society yish, global climate changes in nature, taking into account that the situation related to the drying up of the Aral Sea is becoming more and more acute, it is envisaged to strengthen proposals such as the expression of ecological and legal norms in the direction of environmental safety.
In conclusion, it should be noted that the updated Constitution serves as a solid legal basis and a reliable guarantee for the long-term development strategy of our country, the future prosperity of our country and people.
Qutbiddin Burkhanov,
Senate of the Oliy Majlis
Chairman of the Committee on Defense and Security Affairs,
Deputy Chairman of the Constitutional Commission.
SOURCE: human rights.uz