Celebrating Human Rights Day in Uzbekistan
The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan, together with the National Human Rights Centre of Uzbekistan, co-hosted a blended event to mark Human Rights Day. The International Human Rights Day is observed every year on 10 December, the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.
The event in Tashkent was attended by more than 140 participants with some of them attending in person and some online. Representatives of the Parliament, state bodies, youth and civil society, as well as representatives of the diplomatic corps and international organizations took part in the meeting. Discussions focused on the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to build back better by ensuring that human rights are central to recovery efforts, which was the main theme of this year’s Human Rights Day.
During the event, winners of the award titled “For the Protection of Human Rights” were announced. Prof. Akmal Saidov, Director of the National Human Rights Centre of the Republic of Uzbekistan that organized the award, congratulated the winners. There were different categories for the award that included practical work in the field of human rights; human rights activity in the non-government sector; contribution to the protection of women and children’s right; human rights advocacy and educational activities and reporting on human rights; educational and research work in the field of human rights and the development of international co-operation in the field of human rights.
The winners, in the order of the above-mentioned categories, included:
Former Ombudsperson, Sayyora Rashidova, and Director of the Center for Support of Citizens' Initiatives Dilova Kabulova;
The Istiqbolli Avlod NGO working on the prevention of human trafficking, and Mahmudjon Isaev;
The Republican Center for Socio-Economic Development "Sabr” and the Center for Youth and Children with Disabilities;
Rustambek Shamsutdinov, Editor-in-Chief of "Vodiynoma" magazine, and Nargul Abdreymova, Head of the Legislation, Legal Advocacy and Anti-Corruption Department of the Policy and News Editorial Office of the National News Agency of Uzbekistan;
Professor of Tashkent State Law University Halimbay Babaev and Head of the department of the National Human Rights Centre of the Republic of Uzbekistan Abdulkhay Muminov (posthumously);
Representative of the Russian Federation for Human Rights Tatyana Moskalkova for effective work in protecting the rights of migrants during the pandemic, and former Minister of Justice of the Federal Republic of Germany Herta Doybler-Gmelin for effective activities in the field of justice, human rights and anti-corruption in Uzbekistan.
John MacGregor, OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan, who was a member of the awarding commission, expressed appreciation for the all the winners work saying that he is honoured to “meet people who worked hard this year to achieve a better implementation of international human rights standards in Uzbekistan”.