Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 26 June, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a resolution “On additional measures to improve the system for detecting and preventing cases of torture.”

The resolution defines the priority tasks of increasing the efficiency of the system for detecting and preventing cases of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

In particular, Uzbekistan plans to bring the system of detecting and preventing cases of torture in line with the generally recognized principles and norms of international human rights law.

Among the tasks is the strict provision by the administration of the institution to prevent the viewing of appeals sent by persons with limited freedom of movement to the national human rights institutions, as well as their immediate forwarding to the recipient.

Uzbekistan intends to take measures to improve the mechanism for the prompt and objective consideration of complaints about cases of torture, as well as the inevitability of bringing the perpetrators to justice.

The head of Uzbekistan approved the proposal to create, on the basis of an expert group under the Commissioner of the Oliy Majlis for Human Rights (Ombudsman), public groups to identify and prevent cases of torture.

This group will regularly conduct monitoring visits to prevent the use of torture in the guardhouse, in special detention centers, temporary detention centers, pre-trial detention centers, penal institutions, disciplinary units and compulsory treatment institutions.

The groups will study the conditions of detention in these places and inform the public about it, identify cases of torture and submit to the appropriate state body the requirements for their prompt elimination.

The public groups will participate in the consideration of complaints about cases of torture and in the provision of social, legal, psychological and medical assistance to victims of torture.

The public groups will include experts from the National Center for Human Rights, medical workers, representatives of non-governmental non-profit organizations, the media and other institutions of civil society.

The administration of places of detention of persons with limited freedom of movement provides the public groups with the necessary conditions for an unimpeded meeting and conversation in private with a person with limited freedom of movement, as well as familiarization with the relevant documents.

State bodies and their officials, the administration of places of detention of persons with limited freedom of movement provide assistance in the implementation of the activities of Public Groups. The administration of the institution where the monitoring visits are conducted is responsible for ensuring the safety of members of the Public Groups;

The Ombudsman will submit a report to the chambers of the Oliy Majlis on the work to prevent cases of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment by 15 March annually. The report will be published in the media.

Until next year, Uzbekistan plans to introduce a unified electronic register of persons placed in places of detention of persons with limited freedom of movement.

Measures will be taken to improve the practice of telephone calls by persons with limited freedom of movement to a lawyer or close relative in accordance with the requirements of the law on torture.

The National Center for Human Rights, together with the Ombudsman and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was instructed to submit to the Cabinet of Ministers proposals on the issue of Uzbekistan’s accession to the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (New York, on 18 December 2002).

There will also be developed a procedure for compensation for damage caused to persons who have suffered from torture.

The head of Uzbekistan instructed to bring the norms of the Criminal Code, establishing responsibility for the use of torture, in line with the UN Convention against Torture (New York, on 10 December 1984).

The Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the State Security Service were instructed to ensure the adoption of urgent legal measures in cases of torture, in particular, any cases of violation of the law identified by public groups.