The achievements of Uzbekistan
on the road of democratic development , social and economic reforms : Implementation the current goal — “ From strong state to strong civil society ”
From the very beginning of its independence in 1991 Uzbekistan put an open and obvious goal – to establish a democratic civil society , to enhance the living conditions of people and to have peaceful relations with all countries of the world community . What has been achieved in 25 years , especially when one considers that this newly independent country inherited an economy that was virtually in ruins and mainly geared to the export of raw materials . At the 1993 UN General Assembly session , Islam Karimov , President of Uzbekistan , said that Uzbekistan was « a territory in the former Soviet Union used as a raw materials appendix , providing cheap raw materials and importing ready products of bad quality , which all led to the economy becoming hypertrophied and to great devastation of the environment . After gaining independence in 1991 , the Republic of Uzbekistan faced a whole row of problems in all spheres of building up a nation State . These problems included increased threats to national security and stability , the pressing need for a serious rebuilding of state infrastructure , and the immediate need to establish and develop international relations , starting practically from zero point . After achieving independence the country selected its own way of economic development and transformation to a market economy which is better known as the “ Uzbek model ”. It led to follow-up processes of large-scale work towards achieving political and economic independence , a new stage in the history of national statehood . The basis of this model of building a democratic state and civil society have laid down five principles of transition to a market economy . Priority of economy over politics , placing the state as main reformer , rule of law , strong social policy , phased and evolutionary reforms are among them . In order to ensure the effectiveness of this approach , it is necessary to trace achievements of our country over the years of sovereign development . A series of reforms has been carried out in Uzbekistan aimed at improving the judicial system , turning it into the main guarantee of the effective protection of human rights and ensuring a genuine independence of the judiciary . Concrete measures have been adopted and implemented in this direction .
Since 1 January 2008 the institution of “ Habeas Corpus ” has been introduced in the country . It expanded the powers of the courts , transferring them the right to issue sanctions for arrest from the prosecutors . The formation of the Research Center for democratization and liberalization of judicial legislation and ensuring the independence of the judiciary system under the Supreme Court is contributed to the further consolidation of one of the basic principles of the “ Uzbek model ” of development of the state and society – the rule of law . The large-scale work has been done in the field of liberalization of criminal and criminal procedural law . The most important step in this direction was the abolition of the death penalty from 1 January 2008 . In addition , the capital punishment - “ life imprisonment ” applies only with regard to 2 types of crimes - for terrorism and premeditated murder under aggravating circumstances and does not apply to men over 60 years old , women and minors . The Concept of further deepening democratic reforms and formation of civil society in the country was adopted in 2010 and opened a new stage in the process of the development of Uzbekistan . It involves large-scale , fundamental reform of the foundations of the government , social and political reconstruction of the country . Bicameral parliament was established consisting of Legislative Chamber ( 150 members ), which is constantly working on a professional basis , and the Senate , representing the regions of the country ( in total 100 members - 6 from each region and 16 – appointed by President ). In order to enhance the role of women in political life a special provision is introduced to the election law , stating that the number of women in the total number of candidates nominated by a political party shall not be less than 30 %. Elections to the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis and local councils , on December 21 , 2014 , reaffirmed the irreversibility of democratic transformations in our country have demonstrated achievements in ensuring freedom of expression of the citizens , the formation of a strong civil society . The essence of reforms in the sphere of democratization was a significant increase of the role of the Oliy Majlis ( Parliament ), local representative bodies in the government , greater independence , authority and at the same time the government ’ s and other
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