Ombudsman’s office received more than 18.7 thousand applications in 2021 

The Representative Office of Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Human Rights (Ombudsman) Feruza Eshmatova reported on its activities in 2021 in dealing with citizens’ appeals.

According to the Ombudsman’s spokeswoman Fatima Madrakhimova, in 2021, the representative received a total of 18,738 appeals from citizens of Uzbekistan, citizens and Ombudsmen of foreign countries, stateless persons, public organizations and other legal entities. For comparison – last year the number of applications was 14,975.

According to the legislation, the Ombudsman does not have the authority to consider disputes and conflicts between citizens, so 11,257 appeals (in 2020 – 4,486 appeals) were processed.

In 2021, the largest number of appeals concerned the protection of citizens’ rights to private property and labor rights, social benefits and allowances, financial assistance, the implementation of humanitarian acts, judicial proceedings, the right of citizens to appeal to government agencies and institutions. The largest number of applications came from Tashkent city (2,588), Kashkadarya (2,530) and Surkhandarya (2,000) regions.

In 2021, the Ombudsman for the first time submitted a single issue to the Constitutional Court for guarantees of property rights of individuals, the report said. The Ombudsman’s press service told Gazeta.uz that on April 2, 2019, he appealed to the Constitutional Court to determine whether or not Paragraphs 43 and 47 of the Regulation “On the procedure for withdrawal of land and compensation of owners of real estate located on the seized land”, approved by the Resolution No. 911 of the Cabinet of Ministers of November 16, 2019, is in accordance with Articles 53 and 54 of the Constitution. The issue was considered at an open court session of the Constitutional Court on July 2. The court heard explanations from representatives of ministries and departments and ruled that Paragraphs 43 and 47 of the relevant Regulation of the Cabinet of Ministers were in accordance with the Constitution.

In addition, 14 petitions, 36 conclusions and 44 lawsuits were submitted to state bodies, organizations and courts to restore the violated rights of citizens.

The Ombudsman’s submissions were discussed at extended meetings of ministries and departments. 82 employees were reprimanded for violating the requirements of the discipline of working with appeals of individuals and legal entities, 9 employees were fined and 8 employees were dismissed.

The Ombudsman’s staff also participated in court hearings 108 times (in 2020 – 32 times).

As a result of consideration of appeals on personal rights and freedoms sent to the Commissioner for Human Rights, 21 criminal and administrative and 9 disciplinary cases were initiated. 29 decisions to refuse to institute criminal proceedings against the applicants were revoked.

25 inspections were conducted to provide a legal assessment of the actions of the responsible officials. Following the Ombudsman’s appeal, 6 protests were lodged against the court decisions through the prosecutor’s office.

The courts received 43 lawsuits for the recovery of 442 million soums, 62 citizens were paid 787.8 million soums. 10 people were reinstated, 5 people received compensations worth 9.2 million soums for the damage to their health at work, citizens were assisted in obtaining loans worth 148 million soums.

In addition, damages in the amount of 210.8 soums were recovered in favor of the applicants. In connection with the withdrawal of land plots for state and public needs, housing was allocated to 14 citizens. Entrepreneurs were assisted in repaying overpaid taxes of 145 million soums.