Uzbekistan’s immigration laws and practices have received little international attention. However, new arrangements with both the European Union and the United States are raising questions about the country’s commitments to its human rights obligations. […]
Uzbekistan: Covid-19 and Detention
Prior to the pandemic, between two and three million Uzbek nationals worked overseas–primarily in Russia, as well as in countries such as Kazakhstan, Turkey, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates. Hard-hit by the repercussions of the pandemic and with many losing their sources of employment, significant numbers of Uzbek migrant workers have sought to […]
Last updated: July 2024
DETENTION STATISTICS
Migration Detainee Entries
Not Available
2019
DETENTION CAPACITY
ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION
ADDITIONAL ENFORCEMENT DATA
PRISON DATA
POPULATION DATA
SOCIO-ECONOMIC DATA & POLLS
LEGAL & REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
Does the Country Have Specific Laws that Provide for Migration-Related Detention?
GROUNDS FOR DETENTION
Criminal Penalties for Immigration-Related Violations
Grounds for Criminal Immigration-Related Incarceration / Maximum Length of Incarceration
Has the Country Decriminalised Immigration-Related Violations?
LENGTH OF DETENTION
DETENTION INSTITUTIONS
PROCEDURAL STANDARDS & SAFEGUARDS
COSTS & OUTSOURCING
COVID-19 DATA
TRANSPARENCY
MONITORING
NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORING BODIES
NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISMS (OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE)
NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS (NGOS)
GOVERNMENTAL MONITORING BODIES
INTERNATIONAL DETENTION MONITORING
INTERNATIONAL TREATIES & TREATY BODIES
International Treaties Ratified
Ratification Year
Observation Date
CTOCTP, Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
2008
2017
CAT, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
1995
2017
Ratio of relevant international treaties ratified
Ratio: 8/19
Relevant Recommendations or Observations Issued by Treaty Bodies
Treaty Body
Committee on the Rights of the Child
Recommendation Year
2022
Recommendation Excerpt
44. the Committee recommends that the State party:
(a) Establish a national system for international protection, including for children, with safeguards against arbitrary detention, deportation and refoulement;
(b) Prohibit all detention of children for migration-related reasons, including of unaccompanied children;
(c) Recognize and provide legal status to refugees and asylum-seeking families, including children;
(d) Facilitate access for asylum-seeking and refugee children to education, health care and social services;
(e) Consider ratifying the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.
(a) Establish a national system for international protection, including for children, with safeguards against arbitrary detention, deportation and refoulement;
(b) Prohibit all detention of children for migration-related reasons, including of unaccompanied children;
(c) Recognize and provide legal status to refugees and asylum-seeking families, including children;
(d) Facilitate access for asylum-seeking and refugee children to education, health care and social services;
(e) Consider ratifying the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.
Sources
Committee on the Rights of the Child, "Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of Uzbekistan* ", 27 October 2022, United Nation General Assemble, (Paragraph 44), https://uhri.ohchr.org/en/document/2594c4e4-1e74-4c16-b891-606216746f87
Treaty Body
Human Rights Committee
Recommendation Year
2020
Recommendation Excerpt
§41. The State party should establish a comprehensive national asylum system that is in conformity with international standards and that guarantees access to the territory and to asylum procedures to all persons in need of international protection, and that also provides for adequate safeguards against arbitrary detention, deportation and refoulement. The State party should also ensure that current citizenship legislation provides adequate safeguards for the prevention of statelessness in compliance with international standards. The Committee also encourages the State party to accede to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.
Sources
Human Rights Committee, "Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of Uzbekistan," CCPR/C/UZB/CO/5, 3 March 2020, https://uhri.ohchr.org/en/document/ff04dcdd-e52e-4065-b3fc-861f48b0b338
Treaty Body
Committee on the Rights of the Child
Recommendation Year
2013
Recommendation Excerpt
§ 62. "The Committee recommends that the State party:
(a) Ensure that its laws and procedures fully respect the principle of non-refoulement in accordance with international refugee and human rights standards and abandon the practice of forcibly returning child refugees and asylum seekers and their families to their countries of origin where there is a risk of their being subject to torture or persecution;
(b) Consider extending a temporary protection regime to child refugees and their families in Uzbekistan who are unable and/or unwilling to return to their country of origin and whose third country resettlement applications have been rejected multiple times, inter alia through the provision of residence and work permits;
(c) Consider granting legal status and an opportunity for local integration to mandate refugees who have been married to Uzbek nationals, and whose children were born in, and are citizens of, Uzbekistan; and,
(d) Consider reopening the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR ) office in its territory and consider acceding to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness."
(a) Ensure that its laws and procedures fully respect the principle of non-refoulement in accordance with international refugee and human rights standards and abandon the practice of forcibly returning child refugees and asylum seekers and their families to their countries of origin where there is a risk of their being subject to torture or persecution;
(b) Consider extending a temporary protection regime to child refugees and their families in Uzbekistan who are unable and/or unwilling to return to their country of origin and whose third country resettlement applications have been rejected multiple times, inter alia through the provision of residence and work permits;
(c) Consider granting legal status and an opportunity for local integration to mandate refugees who have been married to Uzbek nationals, and whose children were born in, and are citizens of, Uzbekistan; and,
(d) Consider reopening the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR ) office in its territory and consider acceding to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness."
Sources
Committee on the Rights of the Child, "Concluding Observations on the Combined Third and Fourth Periodic Reports of Uzbekistan, adopted by the Committee at Its Sixty-Third Session, (27 May - 14 June 2013)," CRC/C/UZB/CO/3-4, 10 July 2013, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC%2fC%2fUZB%2fCO%2f3-4&Lang=en
> UN Special Procedures
Visits by Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council
> UN Universal Periodic Review
Relevant Recommendations or Observations from the UN Universal Periodic Review
Recommendation Issued
No
Year Issued
2023
UPR Cycle
4th
Sources
Human Rights Council, "Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Uzbekistan", 10 November 2023, United Nations General Assembly, https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/g23/251/61/pdf/g2325161.pdf
Recommendation Issued
No
Year Issued
2013
Sources
Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review Uzbekistan, A/HRC/24/7, 5 July2013, https://www.upr-info.org/sites/default/files/document/uzbekistan/session_16_-_april_2013/ahrc247e.pdf
Recommendation Issued
No
Year Issued
2009
Sources
Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review Uzbekistan, A/HRC/10/83, 9 March 2009, https://www.upr-info.org/sites/default/files/document/uzbekistan/session_3_-_december_2008/ahrc1083uzbekistane.pdf
REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS
HEALTH CARE PROVISION
HEALTH IMPACTS
COVID-19
Country Updates
Prior to the pandemic, between two and three million Uzbek nationals worked overseas--primarily in Russia, as well as in countries such as Kazakhstan, Turkey, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates. Hard-hit by the repercussions of the pandemic and with many losing their sources of employment, significant numbers of Uzbek migrant workers have sought to return home.
While former Uzbek president Karimov was notoriously disdainful towards Uzbek labour migrants--“Those people who go to Moscow to clean the streets are just lazybones” he stated in June 2013--current president Mirziyoyev has adopted a more favourable stance, appreciating labor migrants’ importance to the Uzbek economy. His government won praise from some for its work assisting stranded migrants to return home during the pandemic (arranging several repatriation flights, trains, and buses). According to Uzbekistan’s Deputy Labour Minister, at least 500,000 had returned as of 29 May, with more returning since. On 21 September, the country’s Ministry of Transport reported that it had arranged for a further 1,800 migrant workers to be returned by train from Samara and Novosibirsk.
On the other hand, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said that the government’s efforts to repatriate migrant workers have been, at best, erratic, with many thousands remaining trapped outside the country’s borders. Many have been forced to camp out at airports in Russia (see our 24 July Russia update on this platform). Others have attempted to return by bus or car through Russia, often having to spend time in makeshift camps at the Russia-Kazakhstan border as they await transport and permission to cross.
One such camp, near the Kinel train station in Samara Oblast, is designed for 900 people. However, according to HRW, in September some 4,000 migrants, including at least 43 children, were stuck there. No medical care is reported to be available in the camp, and persons are not tested for COVID-19. Journalists from Novaya Gazeta, who visited the camp in September, allege that the camp management has sought to prevent camp residents from speaking to the media about the conditions they face. An additional camp has also been established in Kamensk-Shakhtinsky (Rostov Oblast), from where occasional trains leave for Uzbekistan.
With Covid infection rates significantly higher in labour migration destinations such as Russia than in Uzbekistan, persons who have managed to return have faced quarantine in hastily-erected state run facilities--some of which are no more than cargo containers placed together in rows. In the largest reported site--the “Urtasary” facility in the Tashkent region--3,467 containers were placed together, each containing four beds. In July, the facility was the site of protests, as returnees demanded their release from the carceral-style facility. According to the Uzbek Forum for Human Rights, some had been held for more than 30 days without any explanation, far exceeding the recommended 14-day quarantine period. In a video shared by Ozodlik (RFE/RL’s Uzbek service), detainees penned into the camp by iron fencing can be seen calling for their release. Allegations of police brutality also surfaced, and one returnee is reported to have committed suicide following his placement in the facility. The Uzbek Forum for Human Rights has confirmed to the GDP, however, that the Urtasary facility is now closed. Returning migrants are instead instructed to quarantine in their own homes.
Government Agencies
Ministry of Internal Affairs - https://old.gov.uz/en/organizations/contacts/18
International Organisations
UNHCR - https://www.unhcr.org/where-we-work/countries/uzbekistan
IOM - https://uzbekistan.iom.int/
ILO - https://www.ilo.org/regions-and-countries/europe-and-central-asia/uzbekistan
NGO & Research Institutions
Uzbek Forum for Human Rights - https://www.uzbekforum.org/
National Centre for Human Rights - http://nhrc.uz/en/menu/inson-huquqlari-uyi
Human Rights Watch Country Page - https://www.hrw.org/europe/central-asia/uzbekistan
Amnesty Country Page - https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/europe-and-central-asia/eastern-europe-and-central-asia/uzbekistan/
