Improving the system of protecting women from domestic violence and ensuring gender equality is an international treaty obligation of Uzbekistan

Аннотация

The article is devoted to the international obligations of Uzbekistan in the field of ensuring gender equality and protecting women from gender-based violence, which influence the implementation in national legislation of mechanisms for protecting women from domestic violence through the introduction of a system for assessing the risks of escalation of domestic violence. Keywords: Domestic violence, rights of women and girls, assessment of the risks of continued violence. States parties to international treaties are legally bound to comply with their provisions. Such international documents, along with others, include: The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW, 1979) is a human rights convention whose provisions are legally binding on states that accede to it. [1] Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) - States that have acceded to these international instruments have committed to “develop policies designed to ensure that women victims of violence are not re- victimized as a result of laws, judicial and enforcement measures that do not take into account gender... "[2] The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) [3], the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental 442 Freedoms (1950) [4] established a prohibition of discrimination based on gender. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights [5] and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [6] place an obligation on states to ensure that men and women enjoy equal enjoyment of all economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights. Important for the fulfillment of international obligations was the adoption by Uzbekistan on September 2, 2019 of two laws: “On guarantees of equal rights and opportunities for women and men” [7] and “On the protection of women from oppression and violence”. [8] Confirming its commitment to compliance with its international obligations, by Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. UP-6012 dated June 22, 2020. “ON the approval of the national strategy of the Republic of Uzbekistan on human rights” [9]it is stipulated that in order to further improve the mechanism for the protection of human rights and freedoms, ensure the implementation of the Action Strategy for the five priority areas of development of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 2017 - 2021, as well as the effective and timely implementation of the tasks defined in the Address of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Oliy The Majlis of January 24, 2020, determined that one of the main activities of government bodies and organizations of the Republic of Uzbekistan responsible for the implementation of international human rights treaties is: ensuring the unconditional implementation of national action plans (“road maps”) aimed at implementing the recommendations of international human rights organizations; identifying, analyzing, and eliminating the causes and conditions that impede the implementation of the recommendations of the statutory bodies and treaty committees on UN human rights, through the development and implementation of measures aimed at improving legislation and law enforcement practice; implementation of effective cooperation with the Public Chamber under the President of the Republic 443 of Uzbekistan and civil society institutions in the field of implementation of the international obligations of the Republic of Uzbekistan on human rights. The issues of improving the state’s response to cases of harassment and violence against women and ensuring the safety of victims of violence remain relevant. In April 2023, the Law “On amendments and additions to certain legislative acts of the Republic of Uzbekistan in connection with further improvement of the system of reliable protection of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of women and children” was adopted.[10] This Law introduces amendments to the laws of the Republic of Uzbekistan, providing for the improvement of legislation. In particular, the Law establishes proportionate sanctions for criminal acts affecting the rights of women and children; legal guarantees have been introduced to protect women from sexual harassment and domestic violence; the validity period of an order providing state protection to a victim of harassment and violence may be extended by court decision to one year; parole and mitigating circumstances will not be applied to persons who have committed sexual violence against minors. Work should continue to introduce changes and additions to the current legislation in this area, providing for the introduction of a system for assessing the risks of continued domestic violence. Risk assessment is the process of identifying and assessing the degree of hazard in a particular situation. In cases of violence in relationships between close people, the likelihood that such violence will recur and worsen is assessed.[11] The possibility of deadly consequen