United nations crc

PART III

General principles: Nondiscrimination (art. 2)

74. The Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Uzbek legislation governing the legal status of citizens resident in Uzbekistan (in particular, the Citizenship Act of the Republic of Uzbekistan) accord to children all the rights enshrined in the Convention, without discrimination as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status of the child, of the child’s parents or legal guardians, or any other considerations.

75. Article 6 of the Labour Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which entered into force on 1 April 1996, stipulates that distinctions in the employment area attributable to specific requirements of a particular job or the particular concern of the State for people needing extra social protection (women, minors, the disabled and others) shall not be deemed to be discrimination.
76. The Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations Act of 1 May 1998 provides for the protection of the rights and interests of all citizens, including children, without regard to their attitude to religion. The imposition of any direct or indirect restriction on the rights of citizens and the granting of any privileges on the basis of religious affiliation, as well as the incitement to religious hostility and hatred or acts offending the religious sensibilities of citizens shall be punishable by law.
77. The Code of Criminal Procedure of the Republic of Uzbekistan governs the procedure by which justice is administered in Uzbekistan, on the basis of the equality of all citizens before the law and the courts, without regard to origin, social, official and property status, racial and national affiliation, sex, education, language, attitude to religion, form and nature of employment, place of residence and other circumstances.
78. The right of citizens to education is defined in a similar manner by the Education Act. This act guarantees the right to education without regard to race, nationality, language, sex, age, state of health, social, property and official status, social origin, place of residence, attitude to religion, beliefs, party affiliation and criminal record.
79. Difficulties often arise, however, in the application of these principles enshrined in law, due to the processes of transition to a market economy and the commercialization of the medical, educational and leisure sectors, with the resulting reduced accessibility of those sectors.

Best interests of the child (art. 3)

80. This provision is codified in current legislation. Articles 41 and 42 of the Constitution establish the right to education, the freedom of scientific and technical work, and the right to use the achievements of culture. Article 75 of the Family Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan

obliges parents to render moral and material assistance to children. Uzbek law also establishes the right of children to appeal to the care and guardianship authorities for the protection of their rights and interests, in the event that these have been breached by their parents or by persons acting in their stead.
81. A procedure has been established under which in exceptional cases or where there is direct threat to the life or health of a child the care and guardianship authorities are entitled to take a decision on the immediate removal of a child from the child’s parents or from other persons under whose care the child had been placed. In such circumstances the care and guardianship authorities shall be obliged without delay to bring an action in the courts against one or both parents for the deprivation of their parental rights or for the removal of the child.
82. The principle of the best interests of the child is also respected in the Family Code. This establishes that parents are obliged to raise their children with due care for their physical development and their education. For the accomplishment of this task parents are accorded the corresponding rights, including the right to raise their children themselves. At the same time, to protect the interests of the child, certain limits are placed on the exercise of those parental rights, which may not be exercised in a manner contrary to the child’s best interests.
83. Information on measures to ensure that institutions and departments responsible for the welfare and protection of children conform to the established standards may be found in the respective sections of the report relating to specific activities in this area.

Right to life, survival and development (art. 6)

84. This right is guaranteed by the provisions contained in article 24 of the Constitution, while article 72 of the Family Code vests in parents the responsibility to raise their children and to take due care of their physical development and education.

85. Given that infant mortality rates in Uzbekistan were relatively high, at 21.7 per 1,000 live births, the State policy to reduce mortality among children is designed to attack the causes behind these high rates. This primarily involves measures to control the consequences of the environmental crisis caused by the desiccation of the Aral Sea. Additional resources are being assigned to the Aral region to improve its health and hygiene status; a programme has been elaborated with the World Bank to ensure the supply of safe drinking water to the population of the Aral region; investments are being mobilized to develop the social infrastructure in the region. Steps are also being taken to improve the medical care for children in other areas of the country. A number of children’s welfare nongovernmental organizations have been set up, the most important of which include the Soglom Avlod Uchun and Ekosan foundations. In response to the uncontrolled growth of the birth rate, which is one of the main factors behind the growth in the infant mortality rate, the State is conducting measures to promote family planning, the availability of contraceptives and the distribution of easytoread literature on preventing unwanted pregnancies.
86. Due account has been taken of traditional systems used in Uzbekistan to control the raising of children. Measures have been elaborated to revive these systems as a means of supporting large families, which have been hardest hit by the transition from the semipatriarchal system to the market economy. One of these traditional systems is the mahallya  a community of several families or households unified on a territorial basis. The mahallya, which functions as the organ of local authority, channels assistance to needy large families and performs the traditional function of monitoring the education and upbringing of the younger generation. In addition, a special Mahallya Foundation has been established, whose responsibilities also include promoting optimal conditions for the development of children.