A representative of Uzbekistan was elected to the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC) for the first time in history. The director of the National Center for Human Rights, academician Akmal Saidov, became a member of the committee for 2025-2028.
The election of nine members of the HRC for three years took place on May 29 at UN headquarters in New York as part of the 40th session of the States Parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Representatives of 16 states, along with Uzbekistan, applied for seats on the committee: Burundi, Georgia, Egypt, India, Spain, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Lithuania, Morocco, Paraguay, the Republic of Korea, North Macedonia, Togo, Croatia, Ethiopia and South Africa.
Based on the results of a secret ballot, the candidate from Uzbekistan received the largest number of votes from member countries of the ICCPR. Uzbekistan became a member of one of the key UN bodies for the first time among the countries of Central Asia.
The UN noted specific measures achieved by Uzbekistan: “eradicating child and forced labor, combating domestic violence, empowering women and girls, ensuring gender equality, improving the situation of vulnerable groups of the population, as well as open dialogue on all issues of the UN human rights agenda.
The election of Uzbekistan to this authoritative convention body will help demonstrate our country’s commitment to ensuring and protecting human rights through constructive interaction with international human rights structures, will allow active participation in decision-making processes, as well as the exchange of best practices in this area”.
The Human Rights Committee is a UN body consisting of independent experts who monitor the implementation of states parties to the ICCPR. There are 173 states participating in the pact. Uzbekistan acceded to this international document in 1995. The committee’s activities are aimed at ensuring full respect for all civil and political human rights.
It should be recalled that in the fall of 2020, Uzbekistan was first elected to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) for 2021-2023.
In November 2021, the Permanent Representative of Uzbekistan to the UN in Geneva, Ulugbek Lapasov, was approved for the position of one of the four deputy chairmen of the HRC for 2022.
