Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- In recent years, large-scale democratic reforms based on the principles of openness and transparency have been carried out under the leadership of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. The head of state pays great attention to ensuring human rights, developing civil society and strengthening international cooperation in this process.

These and other issues were considered during the online meeting of the Chairman of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis Tanzila Narbayeva and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.

It was noted that Uzbekistan is actively reforming the judicial and legal system, which is an important element in strengthening the guarantees of reliable protection of the rights and freedoms of citizens.

Much attention is paid to ensuring gender equality, which is not only a moral principle, but also an important factor in the effective socio-economic development of the country.

“Uzbekistan fully supports your idea that we should all make more efforts to achieve gender equality,” said Tanzila Narbaeva, head of the upper house of parliament. “That is why in our country the creation of even more favorable conditions for the full-fledged manifestation of their abilities by women has been elevated to the rank of state policy. An interdepartmental Commission on Gender Equality has been established and is effectively carrying out its work.

Uzbekistan maintains a constructive dialogue with OHCHR in Geneva, statutory and treaty bodies, including the UN Human Rights Council and its mechanisms. Human rights issues are considered in the republic as one of the priorities of interaction with the UN.

OHCHR representatives regularly take part in international conferences and seminars held in Uzbekistan on topical issues of human rights and democratization.

During the meeting, issues of expanding cooperation were considered, including for expert assistance from the OHCHR on the practical implementation of a number of important international initiatives of Uzbekistan.

They talked about increasing the role of parliaments in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and ensuring human rights, which will carry out comprehensive work on monitoring the level of poverty, organized health care, human rights and other dimensions along the lines of the SDGs in close cooperation with the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the UN.

These measures are of particular relevance in the pandemic and post-pandemic period, which has made its own adjustments to the progress of the SDGs.