Uzbekistan is a State governed by the rule of law

The concept of the rule of law has its roots in ancient society. The philosophers of that time Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero and others believed that the most reasonable and just form of government in which the law ensures human rights and freedoms, and the state protects and guarantees them. Their views had a noticeable impact on the development of the teachings on the rights and freedoms of the individual in the modern era.
In his scientific treatises G. Grotius, B. Spinoza, J. Locke, S. Montesquieu, J.J. Rousseau, I. Kant, G. Hegel and other European enlighteners wrote about the state, which is based on the autonomy of the individual, possessing inalienable rights and freedoms, and the state protects and guarantees their observance.  
The thinkers of the East Abu Nasr Farabi, Abu Ali ibn Sina, Ibn Rushd, Burhaniddin Marginani and a number of others in their philosophical and legal concepts about the state and law studied the issues of relations between the state and man, a virtuous ruler and the achievement of human happiness in the state.
President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev in June 2022, speaking to the members of the Constitutional Commission, noted that the rule of law is an idea and a great discovery formed as a result of the hard work of mankind for thousands of years.
Indeed, the efforts of mankind to organize the best state system, where the rule of law prevails, have led to the formation of the concept of the rule of law, which is reflected primarily in the documents of international and regional organizations.   
The fundamental nature of the Universal Declaration
The UN, as a universal interstate organization, has adopted a number of documents that contain provisions on the rule of law and the rule of law. 
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted back in 1948, the 75th anniversary of which is celebrated this year, states: it is necessary that human rights are protected by the rule of law, so that a person is not forced to resort as a last resort to rebellion against tyranny and oppression.
The documents of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, the 30th anniversary of which is also celebrated this year, proclaim that the protection of human rights is a matter of paramount importance for the international community.
In 2005, a World Summit was held in New York, which resulted in the adoption of the UN General Assembly resolution "The Rule of law at the national and international levels". In accordance with this document, the Heads of State and Government recognize that all human rights, the rule of law and democracy are interrelated and belong to the universal and indivisible principles of the United Nations, the active protection and promotion of which is their responsibility.
An important document calling on States to ensure the rule of law is the Declaration of the High—level Meeting on the Rule of Law at the National and International Levels, adopted by resolution
67/1 of the UN General Assembly in September 2012. The declaration notes that the rule of law applies equally to all States and international organizations, including the UN and its main bodies, and that respect and promotion of the rule of law and justice should guide all their activities, ensure predictability and legitimacy of their actions.
The Republic of Uzbekistan, as a member of the United Nations and a full subject of international law, has joined more than 80 international human rights instruments, including seven major treaties and four optional protocols of the United Nations, which set out the main recommendations for the protection of human rights and freedoms through the construction of a rule of law state.
Strategy of key directions
The President of the Republic of Uzbekistan in his book "The Strategy of the New Uzbekistan", speaking about the role of law in the life of our society, notes that ensuring the rule of law and justice is the most important condition for building a new Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan has also declared its commitment to the ideas of building a rule-of-law state from the rostrum of international organizations.  Thus, on the occasion of our country's admission to the UN Human Rights Council, the head of state, speaking at the 46th session of this council, supporting the UN initiative "Call to Action in the interests of Human Rights", noted that the central place in the reform of Uzbekistan will continue to be occupied by ensuring fundamental human rights and freedoms. The President has repeatedly voiced the issues of building a rule—of—law state in the new Uzbekistan in the context of the implementation of the principle of "Man - society- state" in his messages to the Oliy Majlis.
In his congratulation to the people of Uzbekistan on the occasion of the 27th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution, he noted that ensuring the rule of law is strict and unconditional compliance with the Constitution and the laws of the country adopted by state authorities and management acts, actions of officials at all levels.
The State policy aimed at building a State governed by the rule of law and thereby ensuring the rule of law is embodied in strategic documents in the field of human rights. Such a document is the National Strategy of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Human Rights approved by Presidential decree in June 2020. One of its main tasks is to establish the principle of the rule of law, Uzbekistan's entry into the top 50 countries of the world in international rankings and indices in the field of human rights and freedoms. In accordance with this document, the decision of the Chambers of the Oliy Majlis established a Parliamentary commission on compliance by the Republic of Uzbekistan with international obligations in the field of human rights. The same decree approved the "roadmap" for the implementation of the National Strategy of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Human Rights, consisting of 78 points.
One of the leading State bodies dealing with human rights issues and building a rule of law is the National Center for Human Rights of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Its activities are aimed at ensuring the interaction of state bodies and other organizations to fulfill Uzbekistan's international obligations, preparing national reports in the field of human rights, expanding cooperation with international organizations for the protection of human rights. At a meeting of the Parliamentary Commission held in January this year, information was heard from the National Center for Human Rights of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the implementation of the National Human Rights Strategy by state bodies. It was noted that in order to ensure the fulfillment of the tasks defined by the national strategy, 12 decrees and resolutions of the President, as well as six resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers were adopted.
Among the democratic institutions in the field of protection of human rights and freedoms are the Commissioner of the Oliy Majlis for Human Rights (Ombudsman), the Commissioner of the Oliy Majlis for the Rights of the Child (Children's Ombudsman), as well as the Commissioner under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan for the Protection of the rights and legitimate interests of business entities. In their activities, they are guided by the principles of legality, justice, humanism and the priority of human rights and legitimate interests — one of the main components of the rule of law.
Of course, the Constitutional Court plays a key role in building a rule-of-law state in our country. In accordance with the Law "On the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Uzbekistan", it is a permanent judicial authority that considers cases on the constitutionality of legislative and executive acts. Citizens and legal entities have the right to appeal to the Constitutional Court to verify the constitutionality of a law if, in their opinion, it violates constitutional rights and freedoms. The Constitutional Court is a kind of depository of the Constitution. So, last year, he studied 979 regulatory legal acts for compliance with their Basic Law of the country. In 2022, the Constitutional Court received 1,376 appeals, on which its judges gave appropriate explanations.
A special role in building the rule of law in Uzbekistan and ensuring the rule of law is assigned to the judicial authorities. In this regard, the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On Courts" clearly states that the activities of the court are aimed at ensuring the rule of law, social justice, civil peace and harmony. Over the past six years, in the context of the implementation of the "New Uzbekistan — New Court" principle, more than 50 laws, decrees and resolutions have been adopted aimed at strengthening the independence of the judiciary, protecting human rights and freedoms. During this period, 4,712 unjustly accused were acquitted by the courts, more than 26,000 people were released from the courtroom, 47,000 citizens were cleared of charges brought by the investigation.
Ensuring the rule of law, strengthening the rule of law, protecting the rights and freedoms of citizens are, in accordance with the Law "On the Prosecutor's Office", priority areas of activity of the Prosecutor's office. Last year, the Prosecutor's office restored the rights of 278 thousand citizens, on the basis of prosecutor's protests, over 46 thousand illegal documents were brought into compliance with the requirements of the law, about 24 thousand submissions were made to the relevant organizations and institutions. About 53 thousand officials have been brought to administrative responsibility for violations of legal requirements.
The Ministry of Justice occupies a special place in the construction of the rule of law. For example, the Presidential Decree "On measures to further improve the activities of bodies and institutions of justice in the implementation of state legal policy" approved the Concept of Development of bodies and institutions of Justice in 2020-2024, which provides for 12 key areas that together create favorable conditions for building a rule of law state. One of them provides for the improvement of the quality of the unified state legal policy, coordination of law-making activities, as well as the implementation of a comprehensive analysis of law enforcement practice and the effectiveness of the public administration system. As noted in the concept, the establishment of a spirit of respect for the laws in society is the key to building a democratic rule of law state. By the Presidential Decree "On measures to improve the effectiveness of the execution of legislative acts on the basis of modern legal monitoring mechanisms", the Ministry of Justice has been designated a special authorized body for coordinating the activities of public administration bodies in the field of legal monitoring.
One of the first documents that laid a solid foundation for the rule of law was the Presidential Decree "On approval of the Concept of improving Normative activity". In accordance with it, the systematization of the legislative framework, ensuring the stability of the legal regulation of public relations, improving the quality of the processes of development and adoption of normative legal acts, improving the monitoring of their implementation, the use of elements of the "smart regulation" model in rulemaking are a kind of basic standards of the rule-making activity of the state, which corresponds to the concept of the rule of law.
In the construction of the rule of law, the dominant role is given to the quality of the laws adopted. In this sense, the fundamental document, a kind of matrix of all legislative activity of the state is the Law "On normative legal acts".
In accordance with article 5, the constitutionality, legality, protection and priority of the rights and legitimate interests of individuals and legal entities, the interests of society and the state, the systematic and comprehensive legal regulation of public relations, as well as the stability of the legal regulation of public relations are among the most important principles of this law. All laws
must strictly comply with the requirements of the norms specified in this law.
Meanwhile, not only the quality of the laws adopted, but also the degree of their implementation and updating has a noticeable impact on the effectiveness of the rule of law. In this regard, decrees of the Head of State have been adopted aimed at introducing a system for reviewing acts that have lost their relevance, as well as measures to strengthen the personal responsibility of heads of state administration and executive authorities for the effective organization of their compliance. The above has an impact on the position of Uzbekistan in the world rankings and indices in the field of building a rule of law state.
Thus, in the world ranking of the rule of law among 140 countries, Uzbekistan took 78th place, rising by seven points. In the Index of Democracy of the countries of the world among 165 countries, Uzbekistan took the 150th place, improving its position by five points. And finally, in the Corruption Perception Index among 180 countries of the world, our country took 140th place, rising by six points. For the sake of objectivity, it should still be said that these indicators are not significant in comparison with the achievements of developed democratic countries. Nevertheless, Uzbekistan is taking measures to improve ratings and indices in the context of building a rule of law state.
The Presidential Decree "On measures to introduce an effective mechanism for determining the state of the rule of law in the Republic of Uzbekistan" defines the key indicators of the rule of law index:
— compliance with legal acts;
— ensuring the rights and freedoms of citizens;
— justice and enforcement of court decisions;
— establishing law and order and ensuring security;
— effective control over the activities of local executive authorities;
— effectiveness of anti-corruption;
— transparency of government institutions.
The above allows us to conclude that Uzbekistan purposefully creates conditions for reliable protection of human rights and freedoms by improving the quality of legislative activity, forming consistent and uniform law enforcement practice, ensuring genuine independence of judicial authorities, improving the activities of national institutions in the field of human rights, reducing the factors that generate corruption. 
Guarantee of the country's development
Raising legal awareness and legal culture in society is an important component of the rule of law. Therefore, in recent years, according to the conceptual idea "High legal culture is a guarantee of the country's development", significant work has been carried out on the radical reform of the national legal system and the formation of a legal culture in society.
The fundamental document was the Presidential Decree "On the radical improvement of the system of raising legal awareness and legal culture in society" dated January 9, 2019. It focuses on the need to establish the legal awareness and legal culture of all social groups of society, strengthen the interaction of public authorities and management, including law enforcement agencies, as well as civil society institutions in the implementation of targeted legal propaganda. The document approved the Concept of improving the legal culture in society and the "roadmap" for its effective implementation. Pursuant to the decree, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a resolution "On approval of the Regulations on monitoring and evaluation of measures to improve legal culture in society". Monitoring is carried out by the Ministry of Justice through an electronic portal. The Cabinet of Ministers also adopted a resolution "On approval of the Program of measures to improve legal culture in society for 2022-2023" dated May 16, 2022. It covers higher education institutions and training centers for retraining and advanced training of personnel, in which courses "Human rights", "Women's Rights" and "Child rights" have been established. The Presidential decree "On additional measures to ensure the supremacy of the Constitution and the law, strengthening public control in this direction, as well as improving the legal culture in society" is also aimed at creating a high level of human rights culture in society.
The construction of a rule-of-law state is directly related to the effective activities of civil servants. In this regard, on March 13, 2021, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a resolution "On measures to further improve the legal literacy of employees of state organizations." The document provides for a whole range of measures in this direction.
The measures taken are in line with the Presidential decree "On the approval of the National Human Rights Education Program in the Republic of Uzbekistan" dated February 7, 2023. It was adopted within the framework of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training and is aimed at implementing the fourth stage of the World Human Rights Education Program for 2020-2024.
All the above-mentioned complex political and legal measures dictate the need to consolidate the principle of the rule of law in the Constitution of Uzbekistan.
Life, freedom, honor and dignity of a person
The Constitution of the country does not say that Uzbekistan is a State governed by the rule of law. Only the preamble of the Basic Law proclaims that the people of Uzbekistan sets the task of creating a humane democratic rule of law State. Meanwhile, an analysis of the articles of the Constitution shows that there are norms in it that fully correspond to the concept of the rule of law.
For example, in accordance with article 2 of the Constitution, State bodies and officials are responsible to society and citizens. According to article 7, the people are the only source of State power. Article 11 states that the system of State power of the Republic of Uzbekistan is based on the principle of separation of powers into legislative, executive and judicial. In accordance with articles 13, 14 and 15 of the Constitution, the highest value is a person, his life, freedom, honor and dignity, the State builds its activities on the principles of social justice and legality in the interests of human welfare and society. The absolute supremacy of the Constitution and laws is spelled out in article 16. In particular, none of the provisions of the Constitution can be interpreted to the detriment of the rights and interests of the Republic of Uzbekistan. It also says that no law or other regulatory legal act can contradict the norms and principles of the Constitution.
A number of relevant articles of the Basic Law are devoted to the independence of the judiciary. A special role in ensuring the rule of law is assigned to the head of state. In accordance with article 93 of the Constitution, the President acts as a guarantor of the observance of the rights and freedoms of citizens, the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Uzbekistan. 
The construction of a rule-of-law state in Uzbekistan is particularly relevant in connection with the ongoing constitutional reform.
On June 20, 2022, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, holding a meeting with members of the Constitutional Commission, said that a state governed by the rule of law is a state in which no one can stand above the law, everyone is equal and accountable to laws adopted on the basis of democratic principles. In this sense, the Head of state proposed to enshrine in the Constitution the idea of "Uzbekistan is a state governed by the rule of law."
The peculiarity of the draft Constitutional Law on amendments and additions to the Constitution is that the preamble of the draft proclaims the construction and strengthening of a humane, democratic, legal, social and secular state. Article 1 specifies that Uzbekistan is a sovereign republic, a legal, social, secular and democratic State. These concepts are already disclosed in the relevant articles of the draft Constitutional Law. Thus, article 13 is supplemented by a norm providing that human rights and freedoms act directly, determine the meaning, content and application of laws, the activities of state bodies, self-government bodies of citizens and their officials. In the same article, it is unequivocally noted that all irremediable contradictions and ambiguities in legislation that arise in the relationship of a person with state bodies are interpreted in favor of a person.
It should be emphasized that article 18 of the draft is supplemented by a norm according to which human and civil rights and freedoms are recognized and guaranteed in Uzbekistan in accordance with generally recognized norms of international law and in accordance with this Constitution. It is also noted here that the dignity of a person, his fundamental rights and freedoms are inviolable, inalienable and belong to everyone from birth. Article 20 of the draft Constitutional Law also meets the requirements of the rule of law and the rule of law. It is supplemented by the norm that human rights and freedoms can be restricted only by law and only to the extent necessary to protect the rights and freedoms of others, as well as to protect public safety and order.
The peculiarity of the draft Constitutional Law is that, in the context of the protection of human rights and freedoms, it has incorporated the norms of direct action. For example, article 25 introduces a norm according to which detention, detention and detention or other type of restriction of freedom is allowed only by a court decision. No one may be detained for more than 48 hours before a court decision. Similarly, article 26 introduces a rule proclaiming that everyone accused of committing a crime is considered innocent until his guilt is legally established, through a public trial, in which he is provided with all opportunities for protection. All doubts about guilt, if the possibilities to eliminate them have been exhausted, must be resolved in favor of the suspect, the accused or the defendant. Also, doubts arising in the application of the law should be resolved in favor of the suspect, the accused or the defendant. A number of articles provide for innovations concerning the right of every person to use the assistance of a lawyer, preventing the administration of justice using evidence obtained in violation of the law, providing victims with access to justice and compensation for damage caused, the right of every person to compensation by the State for harm caused by illegal actions or inaction of State bodies or their officials. As we can see, the construction of the rule of law and ensuring the rule of law are priority areas of state policy.
 
Based on the above, it can be concluded that the main features of the rule of law are: 
— the rule of law in all spheres of society;
— respect for human rights;
— the activity of state bodies is based on the principle of separation of powers into legislative, executive and judicial;
— mutual responsibility of the individual and the state;
— priority of human and civil rights and freedoms, their guarantee by the state;
— political and ideological pluralism;
— stability of law and order in society;
— high legal culture in society;
— the presence of a strong and open civil society;
— priority of international law over national law.  
 
                    Shukhrat Bafayev,
Chairman of the Committee of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis
on Democratic Institutions, Non-Governmental Organizations
and Citizens' self-government Bodies.