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Struggling with registration of self-initiated NGOs
Another question is whether the quasi-governmental systemic NGOs represent genuine civil society
institutions in Uzbekistan. Only about 3000 registered NGOs can be considered as self- initiated by
groups of activists which operate at the grassroots level without direct financial support of the
government and territorial branches across the country.
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While systemic NGOs, public
organisations and funds of those groups enjoy a close relationship with the government and are
easily registered, civil society activists may spend months or even years to do so and face formal and
informal barriers when registering their organisations with the Ministry of Justice. Although positive
steps are being taken to support civil society in Uzbekistan, the internal administrative procedures of
registration for self-initiated NGOs remains bureaucratic, with red tape seemingly designed to
frustrate applicants into giving up in the end.
The registering bodies are applying unlawful tactics when reviewing applications which contradict
the newly adopted law ‘On Administrative Procedures’.
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Despite the fact that the review period of
the constituent documents was reduced to one month the registration process can be quite lengthy
as the judicial authorities do not indicate the full list of shortcomings at first application and keep
refusing the NGO registration based on new and vaguely defined mistakes in the organisation’s
charter or other founding documents.
If necessary,
the registering authority has the right to send the
application documents to ‘relevant organisations for an expert examination’ which should provide
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Ibid.
383
Leonid Khvan, Legislatively about administrative procedures and registration of NGOs, Gazeta.uz, February 2020,
https://www.gazeta.uz/ru/2020/02/14/administrative-procedures/; Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan, On Administrative Procedures,
dated January 2018, No. ZRU-457, LexUZ, https://lex.uz/docs/3492203
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their opinion within 20 days of receiving the documents.
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However, these ‘expert organisations’
and the criteria for judging registration documents of self-initiated NGOs remain vague and the
decisions by third party expert organisations are not usually disclosed to applicants.
The case of an initiative group, a youth volunteer centre, ‘Oltin Qanot’ (Golden Wing) which has
been struggling to register as an NGO since October 2018 and has received more than ten refusals
from the justice authorities confirms the above mentioned complexities.
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The initiative group
would like to establish an NGO in Tashkent city and has applied to the Department of Justice of
Tashkent city, a route deemed easier than registering an NGO at the Ministry of Justice. The reason
for the continuous refusals of ‘Oltin Qanot’ can be associated with the monopoly status of the
systemic NGO Youth Union of Uzbekistan. The necessity for registration of another youth
organisation is most likely questioned by the registering authorities and ‘expert organisations’ as the
Youth Union is already in charge of this sphere. Moreover, the Youth Union itself can be listed
among organisations which can give their ‘expertise’ on feasibility or usefulness of opening another
youth organisation which creates a conflict of interest of a systemic NGO reviewing the registration
documents of a potential self-initiative NGO.
The low level of legal literacy amongst initiative groups further complicates the registration process
as the Ministry of Justice state they ‘are not entitled to provide legal support in the preparation of
constituent documents on state registration of NGOs to counteract the occurrence of a conflict of
interests and corruption risks in the judiciary’.
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While the authorities made sample Charter
documents for various types of business entities publicly available and it is now possible to register a
commercial company online in 30 minutes via the Single-Window System Centre, self-initiative
groups are left behind without any support to facilitate the registration process of NGOs.
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Although
the new e-ngo.uz portal allows online submission of registration documents the internal review
procedures remain unchanged. Without officially approved sample NGO Charters grassroots activists
are turning to paid services of lawyers which cannot guarantee the correctness of the prepared
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Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan ‘On measures to implement the resolution of the President of the
Republic of Uzbekistan dated December 12, 2013 No. PP-2085 ‘On additional measures to assist the development of civil society
institutions’, LexUZ https://www.lex.uz/acts/2356874#undefined
385
Dilmurad Yusupov and Oybek Isakov, Answer to the Ministry of Justice about the problems of registration of NGOs, Gazeta.uz, February
2020, https://www.gazeta.uz/ru/2020/02/12/answer/
386
Ministry of Justice, Denial of registration of NGOs: causes and consequences, Gazeta.uz, January, 2020,
https://www.gazeta.uz/ru/2020/01/28/mj/
387
Business Entity, Registration Module of the EITI Portal, https://fo.birdarcha.uz/s/uz_landing
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Charter. The registering bodies can find faults in the constituent documents and reject registration
on the basis of the smallest grammatical mistakes or issues with their translation into Uzbek as all
the application documents must be submitted in the state language.
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