For the first quarter of 2015, there were 89 female victims, who were distributed as follows:

Age, in years
Under 18	18 - 25	25 - 30	30 - 40	Above 40
9	43	23	11	3

In 2014, a total of 642 persons were convicted of human trafficking.

In cases in which internal affairs authorities identify persons engaged in prostitution, such individuals are first sent to venereal disease dispensaries to be checked for various venereal diseases, for which, it such diseases are detected, medical assistance is provided.

Such individuals are placed on a preventive monitoring list, and individual preventive work is done with them on an ongoing basis. Facilities (baths, saunas, hotels, hostel and, inter alia, video sales and rental outlets) are regularly inspected for moral offences. Article 190 (Prostitution) of the Code of Administrative Liability provides punitive measures for this type of offence. Article 131 of the Criminal Code defines maintaining a house of prostitution and pandering as criminal offences.

An immense role in the prevention of human trafficking is played by annual programmes to create jobs and provide employment that are developed by the government and approved by the houses of the Oliy Majlis. The programme for 2015 calls for the creation of 987,500 jobs, of which 203,700 jobs are for women, single individuals and individuals with large families, and human trafficking victims. The job creation is based on the development of all forms of work at home, entrepreneurship and, inter alia, craft work.

Regional Women’s Committees have placed 312 women in jobs, have gained free medical assistance for 405 women, have gotten social care for 359 women, have acquired legal counselling for 199 women, have gotten psychological assistance for 358 women, and have helped 148 women and girls to acquire professional skills that have enabled them to find work.

Women’s Committees have helped 9,003 women and girls from disadvantaged families, who have been able to acquire professional skills at private training centres free of charge, which has made it possible for them to improve their financial condition. Within the framework of the projects implemented, some 1,000 rural women and girls from vulnerable families have been able to enhance their legal and economic knowledge, and about 300 have obtained microloans and have started their own businesses.

It should be noted that a social partnership has been developed in the country between government agencies and NGOs in the fight against human trafficking. For example, the Social and Information Centre Istikbolli Avlod signed the Joint Action Plan of 8 January 2015 with the Women’s Committee to raise the public’s legal awareness, particularly that of women and girls, and to provide assistance to victims of human trafficking. The Action Plan includes addressing issues associated with raising the public’s awareness, to include women and girls, in the sphere of human trafficking and to assist trafficking victims to return home.

In the implementation of the project “Reintegration of human trafficking victims”, the total number of project participants over the period of 2014 and 2015 was 78 women, of whom five were under 18 years of age, 35 were 18-25, 29 were 26-55, and seven were over 45.

The following types of assistance were provided in the project:

medical for 74 individuals, legal for 59 individuals, psychological for 8 individuals, training for 72 individuals and job placement for 39 individuals.

The Centre’s “hotline” for free and confidential counselling for the public to prevent human trafficking received 1,145 calls (586 from men, 559 from women) in 2014 and 420 (174 from men, 246 from women) from January through April 2015.

More than 4,135 educational events were held for purposes of preventing human trafficking, and 1,997 appearances were made on radio and television or in published articles in newspapers and magazines.

With an eye to increasing the effectiveness of countering human trafficking and of fighting against it, prosecutorial authorities have conducted some 10,000 actions to make the public aware of the law, 1,800 of which were in the media.

Question 10. Upgrading the electoral system to meet the standards of international law and establishing a legislative quota for the percentage accounted for by women running for deputy positions have expanded considerably the opportunities for women to participate in the public and political life of the country.

Under Article 22 of the Elections to the Oliy Majlis Act, the number of women nominated by political parties must constitute at least 30% of the total number of candidates on party lists.

Based on the results of the Oliy Majlis elections held in December 2014, of the 535 registered candidates for the Legislative Chamber in 2014, women constituted almost 32%: 30.3% from the Social Democratic Party Adolat [SDPUz]; 30.6% from the Democratic Party of Uzbekistan Milliy Tiklanish [DPUz]; 32.6% from the Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan [UzLiDeP]; and 33.6% from the People’s Democratic Party of Uzbekistan [NDPUz].

A total of 24 women were elected, which is 16% of the total number of Oliy Majlis Legislative Chamber deputies. Of those, 10 women were from the Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan; 6 were from the Uzbekistan Democratic Party Milliy Tiklanish; 5 were from the People’s Democratic Party of Uzbekistan; 2 were from the Social Democratic Party Adolat; 1 was from the Uzbekistan Environmental Movement.

In the Senate of the Oliy Majlis, 17% are women.

Women elected to local kengashes of people’s deputies of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, oblasts, and the city of Tashkent constituted 23.5% of those bodies. Of those women, 61 were from the Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan; 49 were from the Uzbekistan Democratic Party Milliy Tiklanish; 50 were from the People’s Democratic Party of Uzbekistan; and 26 were from the Social Democratic Party Adolat. A total of 22% of the women are deputies elected to rayon and city kengashes.

Based on the results of the 2014 elections to councils of people’s deputies (local representative bodies), the percentages of women elected to kengashes of people’s deputies were 36.6% for the Samarkand Oblast; 31.7% for the Tashkent Oblast; 30% for the Navoi Oblast; 30% for the Fergana Oblast; 29% for the Andijan Oblast; 25.2% for the Khorezm Oblast; 24.4% for the Djizak Oblast; and 23.3% for the Bukhara Oblast.

In the kengashes of peoples deputies (local representative bodies), women constitute 56.6% in Yangibazarskiy Rayon, 53.3% in the city of Gulistan, 48.0% in the Balykchinskiy Rayon, 42.0% in the Khuzhaobodskiy Rayon, 40% in the Izboskanskiy Rayon, 40% in the Kattakuranskiy Rayon, 40% in the Konimekhskiy Rayon, 38.0% in the Bozskiy Rayon, 36.7% in the Dangarinskiy Rayon, 36.6% in the Asakinskiy Rayon, 36.0% in the Altynkulskiy Rayon, 36% in the city of Shirin, 35% in the Norinskiy Rayon, 33.3% in the Uchkuprikskiy Rayon, 33% in the Karmaninskiy Rayon, 33% in the cities of Andijan and Urgench, 32% in the Andijanskiy and Markhamatskiy rayons, 32% in the cities of Yangiyer and Samarkand, and 30% in the Zhomboyskiy, Ishtikhanskiy, Payarykskiy, Pastdargamskiy, Taylakskiy, Uchkudukskiy, Boyevutskiy, Akaltynskiy, Saryosiyskiy, and Urgenchskiy rayons.

Women have also taken an active part in the work of electoral commissions. In the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan, for example, women make up 17% of members. In 135 okrug electoral commissions for the national Oliy Majlis Legislative Chamber elections, women account for 20.1%; in the district commissions, 43.8%.

A quantitative/qualitative analysis of the makeup of the okrug electoral commissions for the Republic of Uzbekistan presidential elections in 2015 showed that of 152 commission members, 15.1% were women, 46.7% of whom had previous experience arranging and conducting elections.

The representation of women in the highest leadership positions of executive bodies stands at 14.3%. Women in 14 provincial administrations hold the post of deputy chief administrator (khokim). Women also hold the post of deputy khokim in 167 district and 26 urban administrations. They account for 17.1% of local authorities, elected and appointed.

The percentage of posts held by women in the system of executive bodies increased almost fivefold, to 16% in 2013 from 3.4% in 2005.

For example, women serve in 17% of leadership posts in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and 82 women work in procuratorial bodies, 24 of them in leadership posts; appointment to such posts is based on the business and professional acumen of the staff members.

The political parties functioning in the country are devoting considerable attention to the level of participation of women in public and political life.

The decision of the III Plenum of the Political Council of the Social Democratic Party Adolat approved an integrated plan of practical action for 2015-2019 that included, together with other issues that are important to the party, points pertaining to the advancement of women to senior positions in the Cabinet of Ministers and judicial bodies and to other, executive-body leadership posts. Work is under way to create a database of active women who are executive officers and girls who show initiative.

As of 1 January 2015, of the 394,900 members of the People’s Democratic Party of Uzbekistan, 179,500 of them, or 45.5%, are women. More than 50% of those being admitted to the party are women.

Created in all local chapters of the People’s Democratic Party are divisions of the women’s wing of the party Faol Ayellar, which do systematic work among women—raising the level of their political awareness and knowledge of the law and expanding their public, political and civil initiatives.

Question 11. The foundation of the achievement of gender equality in the system of general secondary education of Uzbekistan consists in the adoption of laws that provide universal access to general primary and secondary education for boys and girls.

In general education schools, the ratio of the number of female students to that of male students is 0.94. Gender parity has been achieved in vocational colleges: the ratio of boys to girls in 2013 was 0.96. The figure for the ratio of girls to boys in academic lyceums over the period of 2001-2013 rose to 0.74 from 0.56.

In the system of secondary specialized vocational education, there were 1,555 educational institutions in the 2014/2015 school year: 143 were academic lyceums, and 1,412, vocational colleges. In educational institutions overall, there are 1,554,178 students, of which 758,224 are girls.

Given the age of students of medical colleges (the age of those being admitted to college for a three-year programme of study is 14 or 15), intense efforts are being made in them and in makhallas to prevent early marriages among girls, parents are being educated, and, inter alia, meetings are being held with medical workers and with staff members of law enforcement agencies.

On 22 August 2013, additional provisions were added to the Code of Administrative Liability regarding the liability of parents or caregivers or guardians for preventing children, including girls, from receiving the compulsory secondary general education or the secondary specialized vocational training (Art. 47).

With Uzbekistan’s transition to a full 12-year compulsory education, the number of marriages among girls between 17 and 18 years of age has declined, and girls are completing their compulsory secondary specialized education at the ages of 18 and 19.

A total of 627,421 marriages were recorded in 2011, whereas only 296,055 were recorded in 2014 (fewer by 331,366). A steady downward trend in girls entering an early marriage is being observed: if 53 cases (0.02%) involving girls marrying at the age of 16 were recorded in 2011, only 12 cases (0.004%) were recorded in 2014. Observers in 2014 noted a decline in early births among 15- and 16-year-old girls to 68 cases, as opposed to 165-97 [sic] in 2011.

The high level of accessibility of secondary and secondary specialized vocational education is the result of the creation of an environment for the exercise of the rights of various national groups to receive instruction in their own language. In Uzbekistan, it is possible to receive instruction in seven different languages: Uzbek, Karakalpak, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Russian, Tajik, and Turkmen. In the republic, there are 370 schools in which the language of instruction is Karakalpak, 790 in which it is Kazakh, 253 in which it is Tajik, 59 in which it is Kyrgyz, and 43 in which it is Turkmen; 643,234 students study in those schools.

In the country, there are no regional differences in terms of the coverage by general secondary education. By comparison with 2001, the number of those entering secondary specialized vocational institutions in 2013 had risen by more than twofold in the city of Tashkent and in the Syr-Darya and Djizak oblasts; by more than threefold in the Andijan, Namangan, Khorezm and Fergana oblasts; and by four- to fivefold in the Bukhara, Kashka-Darya, Navoi, Samarkand, Surkhan-Darya and Tashkent oblasts.

Informal education institutions have been set up in all regions of the country. To upgrade the informal system of education for children, 211 Barkamol Avlod children’s centres have been set up in which 4,485 groups are taught from an array of 36 subjects in areas of creativity and the arts, local history, and ecology. A total of 107,000 children are involved in the work of the groups.

The country has 302 music and art schools with a total enrolment of 52,120 students, 54.2% of whom are girls; it has 584 athletics/physical education institutions with a total enrolment of 349,300 (27.9% are girls).

Admission to higher education institutions complies with the Education Act, the National Personnel Training Programme, and a number of decisions and directives of the Republic of Uzbekistan president and Cabinet of Ministers and orders of the Ministry of Higher and Specialized Secondary Education.

Male and female applicants take tests under the same prescribed rules and with no gender-based differences, and standard undergraduate and graduate programmes and curricula, which are the same for all students, are approved by the Ministry of Higher and Specialized Secondary Education.

Substantial State expenditures for education have facilitated the effective implementation of measures within the National Personnel Training Programme. In 2005-2013, the share accounted for by education expenditures in the structure of State budget expenditures rose to 34.1% from 29%. In the structure of State education expenditures, the largest share is accounted for by general secondary education (56.1%), followed by secondary specialized vocational education (21.4%), pre-school education (10.2%) and higher education (5.4%). The main priority for Uzbekistan in the sphere of education continues to be improvement of the quality at all levels and the preservation of equal access to education for all groups of the population, regardless of social status, sex, age, or place of residence.

Question 12. To implement gender equality objectives in the sphere of education, a state-of-the-art logistical and training base of schools, colleges, and lyceums was set up, and new educational standards and progressive pedagogical and information technologies were incorporated into the education process.

With an eye to improving the system for vocational training and skill upgrades based on the changes in the structure of the economy, measures are being taken to increase the percentage of women in the natural and engineering sciences.

The Centre for Secondary Specialized Vocational Education order No. 112 of 20 April 2015 on Intensifying Work to Promote Profession Orientation in Secondary Specialized Vocational Education Institutions was drafted with due consideration of the existing requirements in the real sector of the economy and the quality of personnel training, and promotional efforts are under way to set up professions for girls in educational institutions for their place of residence.

The Centre for Secondary Specialized Vocational Education is doing systematic profession-oriented work. Specifically, vocational colleges and academic lyceums are the sites for the organization of “Festivals of Professions” and “Open-Door Days”, in which boys and girls, as well as their parents, can obtain detailed information on the specialties for which a given educational institution trains personnel and on the environment created for the students. General education schools host discussions on the topic “The Properly Chosen Specialty—Your Future”, as well as “Fathers’ Meetings” and parent-teacher meetings, in which specialists speak with students and parents about the proper choice of profession and about equality of the sexes in the choice of a profession. They are informed of which professions are in demand in the country or in a given region.

In 2014 and 2015, across the republic, some 2,000 television broadcasts were prepared, upwards of 3,000 radio broadcasts went on the air, and the information service of the education ministry ran around 4,000 articles in newspapers and magazines to provide extensive coverage of the day-to-day labour of women and the environment created for gifted girls.

At present, more than 383,000 teachers work in 9,698 general education schools of the republic, and of those teachers, more than 273,000 (71%) are women. More than 52,000 teachers work in 4,930 preschool institutions, and 90 of those teachers are men. A total of 4,520,826 students attend general education schools, and 2,181,079 are girls.

The requisite conditions for obtaining an education have been created for vulnerable groups of students. The parents of children with disabilities have the right to choose between general education schools and specialized education institutions, or home schooling. In operation today are 21 Mekhribonlik facilities, where 2,221 children are educated.

Question 13. Under the Labour Code, all citizens have equal opportunities to exercise their labour rights. The imposition of any restrictions or the granting of privileges in the area of labour relations on the basis of sex, age, race, ethnic background, language, social origin, property or employment status, views on religion, beliefs, membership in voluntary associations or other considerations unrelated to employees’ professional qualities or the results of their work is unacceptable and shall be deemed discrimination.

Distinctions in the employment sphere resulting from the inherent requirements of a given job or prompted by the State’s special concern for persons requiring enhanced social protection (women, minors, persons with disabilities, etc.) do not constitute discrimination.

Any person who feels that he or she has been subjected to discrimination in employment may sue to halt the discrimination and obtain compensation for material and moral injury (Art. 6).

The Employment Act defines the following as one of the fundamental principles in the State employment policy: “Ensuring that all citizens, irrespective of sex, age, race, ethnic background, language, social origin, property or employment status, views on religion, beliefs, membership in voluntary associations or other circumstances unrelated to the professional qualities of employees or the results of their work enjoy equal opportunities in exercising the right to work and the free choice of employment” (Art. 5).

At present, observers are seeing a considerable rise in employment by comparison with 1990, and in the structure of the employed segment of the population, the share accounted for by women is growing: it was 45.5% in 2013, as opposed to 44.0% in 2000. In 2014, women’s employment in sectors of the economy enveloped by trade union membership accounted for 47.8%.

The Labour Code specifies that pregnant women and women with children under three years of age need not take a pre-hiring test to be hired; the Code also provides other guarantees for women who are employed (such as the temporary transfer of workers to lighter, non-hazardous work or shorter working hours) (Art. 84).

Efforts are under way in the republic to raise the professional and legal awareness of businesspeople and to increase knowledge pertaining to the development of entrepreneurship, tax affairs, and lending and banking. For those purposes, a permanent Commission on the Development of Women’s Businesses was created in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and women are being systematically trained in programmes geared to developing local handicrafts and cottage industries. Specifically, regional business incubators are being created to support beginning and experienced women entrepreneurs, business forums and seminars are being held for them, and they are being taught business fundamentals and what professions are in demand.

More than 165,000 women are pursuing entrepreneurial activities in the country, and they constitute 34% of the total number of principals of entities of small business and privately held business.

As of 1 January 2013, some 69,800 farms (including more than 18,000 diversified farms) were registered in the republic on around 5 million hectares of land. Women head 5,066 of the farms (about 7%).

Women working in agriculture are entitled to all the concessions, conditions, and special programmes available to the women of Uzbekistan. In addition, they may equally avail themselves of the concessions and preferences available to agricultural goods producers.

For purposes of ensuring that women can work, there are some 5,000 preschool education institutions attended by some 600,000 children aged 2 to 7. On the basis of the Cabinet of Ministers decision of 28 February 2011 on measures for further improving the informal education system, 211 children’s centres for creativity and the arts, local history, and ecology were set up. The centres serve more than 100,000 children. The fee for the teaching performed at the centres is paid by parents monthly: 10% of the minimum monthly wage in oblast centres and the cities of Nukus and Tashkent, and 5% in the other rayons (cities) of the Republic. Over the course of 2014, within the framework of the State programme “Year of Child Health”, work was done to create in preschool education institutions 1,220 short-stay groups for children not covered by preschool education.

Uzbekistan has ensured the access of ethnic groups to preschool education: there are 833 preschool education institutions for Uzbek and Russian speakers; 324 for Karakalpak speakers; 11 for Kazakh speakers; 34 for Tajik speakers; and 3 for Turkmen speakers. The preschool education system has 52,205 teachers, and 100% of them are women.

Question 14. Under the Labour Code, remuneration is set by agreement between employer and employee. Remuneration cannot be below the minimum established by law and cannot be limited by any maximum (Art. 153).

The forms and systems of remuneration, bonuses, supplemental pay, incremental pay, and incentive pay are set in collective bargaining agreements, as well as in other local enactments used by the employer by agreement with the trade union committee or other authority representing the workers. The remuneration is made, as a rule, in monetary form. Payment in kind is prohibited, except in cases established by the Government.

In accordance with the terms set for labour remuneration and within the periods established by Article 161 of the Labour Code, employers, regardless of their financial situation, are obliged to pay workers for the work they have done.

The amount of wages specified by agreement of the parties to a labour contract may not be lower than that established by a collective contract or agreement.

A General Agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers, the Council of the Federation of Trade Unions, and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Socio-Economic Issues for 2014-2016 calls for strict compliance by the Parties with Convention No. 100 concerning equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value, Convention No. 103 concerning maternity protection and Convention No. 111 concerning discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.

Measures have been taken to legalize labour relations and to raise the level of social protection for the women employed in the informal sector of the economy.

In accordance with the Presidential Decree No. UP-3706 of 5 January 2006 on measures to stimulate expansion of cooperation between large industrial enterprises and the provision of services based on the development of home-based work, home-based work performed in cooperation with industrial enterprises is being legalized.

The Presidential Decision No. PP-308 of 23 March 2006 on measures to stimulate the expansion of the cattle herds of private family farms, household plots, and peasant farms provides that persons engaged in raising cattle on private family farms and household plots are regarded as employed, regardless of the how the animal products they produce are used, and such persons are eligible for pensions under the State Pensions Act.

Under the Regulation on the Rules for Family Businesses and the Handicrafts Trade, which was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers decision No. 216 of 29 July 2009, handicrafts are regarded as a form of home-based work.

The 28 December 2010 order of the Minister of Labour and Social Protection approved the Regulation on the Rules for Determining the Minimum Standard Number of Employees and Minimum Standard Labour Compensation Fund for Business Entities of Certain Sectors of the Economy.

The Presidential Decision No. PP-2270 of 4 December 2014 on the forecast of basic macroeconomic indicators and parameters of the State budget of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2015 reduced the rate for the single social transfer for microfirms and small businesses, as well as peasant farms, to 15% from 25%.

Under the Family Entrepreneurship Act No. ERU-327 of 26 April 2012, the time spent by participants and hired workers in the employ of a family enterprise is counted toward length of service on the basis of documents verifying the payment of contributions to the State social insurance and entries in employment records kept in the manner prescribed by law.

Question 15. The question of the accession of the Republic to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (1990) has been studied by interested ministries and departments, which have concluded that it is premature to accede to the Convention before the adoption of the Law on Migration, which has been submitted for consideration by the Cabinet of Ministers.

Question 16. In the year 2000, at the Millennium Summit, 189 countries of the world, including the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan as a member of the United Nations, assumed the obligation to achieve the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG). MDG 4 and 5 consist in lowering maternal and infant morbidity and mortality rates by one-third by 2015 and improving maternal health. In that area, the Government is implementing a number of large-scale government programmes centred on improving women’s health, ensuring the birth and upbringing of a healthy young generation and fostering an enhanced awareness of health in families.

Under implementation at present is Presidential Decision No. PP-2221 of 1 August 2014 on the State programme for further improvement of the reproductive health of the population and protection of the health of mothers, children and adolescents (2014–2018), one of the main areas of which is to ensure broad and equal access to quality medical services in order to promote the reproductive health of the population and protect the health of mothers, children and adolescents at all levels of the health-care system.

Until 1990, the primary method of preventing an unwanted pregnancy in Uzbekistan was abortion. Annually, more than 6% of women of fertile age terminated unwanted pregnancies. If, in 1991, only 13% of women of child-bearing age used some form of contraceptive on an ongoing basis, that figure, according to MICS, was 64.8% in 2006; in 2012, some 60% of women used contraceptives. Of all women who use contraceptives, only 9.2% have used voluntary surgical sterilization.

The accessibility of a wide range of contraceptives and the increased awareness of methods for preventing unwanted pregnancies have contributed to the fact that abortions have ceased to be a form of birth control in the republic. Induced abortions have been legalized in the republic and are performed in medical facilities in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. In recent years, the abortion rate has dropped to 5.0 per 1,000 from 39.9.

The Criminal Code specifies liability for criminal abortion, that is, the performance of the induced termination of pregnancy (abortion) by an obstetrics physician or gynaecologist outside a treatment facility or in the presence of medical contraindications or by an unlicensed person (Art. 1 14), as well as for coercion of a women to obtain an abortion, if the abortion is performed (Art. 1 15).

In 2013-2014, the Institute of Social Research performed a sociological study in the city of Tashkent and in Tashkent, Namangan, Navoi and Surkhan-Darya oblasts, with UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) support. Specifically, a public survey found that the level of contraceptive use by women in the city of Tashkent and in the Tashkent, Namangan, Navoi, and Surkhan-Darya oblasts was 71.1%. There were no appreciable differences between urban and rural women in terms of knowledge or actual use of various kinds of contraception. For example, 49% of rural women and 45% of urban women use intrauterine devices; 19% and 30%, respectively, use condoms; 21% and 25% use the lactational amenorrhea method; 10% and 19% use oral contraceptives; 6% and 6% use voluntary surgical contraception; and 3% and 6% use contraceptive injections.

Voluntary surgical contraception is performed on the basis of special medical indications for women who, because of their health, have absolute contraindications to pregnancy or to the use of other methods of contraception and is conducted to save the life of the woman. Among the medical indications are several previous surgical interventions during childbirth (Cesarean section), severe hypertension, cardiovascular disease, heart defects, cirrhosis of the liver, blood disorders, thromboembolic complications, epilepsy in medical history and other diseases that create a risk of the development of complications during pregnancy and childbirth.

Moreover, voluntary surgical contraception is not suggested for women who have only one or two children in the family or in the absence of the consent of the partner or spouse or for women who have doubts about the reversibility of the operation. Thus, the performance of a voluntary surgical contraception procedure requires that the woman and her husband be fully informed, that an individualized approach be adopted for each patient to take into account the necessity and desire for the operation on a case-by-case basis, and that the operation will help to improve the woman’s quality of life.

The Ministry of Health is doing systematic work to further develop preventive health care, to strengthen the reproductive health of mother and child, primarily in rural areas, and to coherently implement the special programme “Healthy Mother—Healthy Child”. Since 2009, in all regions of the republic, the Week for Health Improvement of Women of Fertile Age, Children, and Teenage Girls is held monthly by physicians of rural medical centres and leading specialists from the country’s medical specialty centres, medical institutions of higher learning, and facilities of the city of Tashkent.

The State has allocated 8 billion sum for the purchase of multivitamin complexes, which makes it possible every year to boost the health of some 400,000 pregnant women living in rural areas, which, in turn, helps to strengthen the health of mothers and prevent the birth of children with congenital developmental defects.

Reports of forced surgical sterilization and the violation of women’s rights with regard to giving birth to a third or subsequent child are not finding corroboration. Numerous studies conducted in Uzbekistan by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and UNFPA have confirmed the transparency of the Government’s policy regarding the human right to reproductive health and a healthy family.

Question 17. Based on the results of the implementation of the project “Expansion of the economic rights of women in Uzbekistan” in seven oblasts (the Kanlikulskiy and Muynakskiy rayons of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, the Karshinskiy Rayon of the Kashka-Darya Oblast, the Tashlakskiy Rayon of the Fergana Oblast, the Yukorichirchikskiy Rayon of Tashkent Oblast, the Mirzabadskiy Rayon of the Syr-Darya Oblast and the Farishskiy Rayon of the Djizak Oblast), 156 peer support groups were organized for women from disadvantaged families, and those groups combined 894 rural residents. With the implementation of the project, 1,662 women who were peer support group members underwent training on raising their self-esteem, improving their business organization skills and maintaining business relations. According to the Memorandum of Understanding between the Women’s Committee of Uzbekistan and the Mikrokreditbank Open Joint-Stock Commercial Bank, all women peer support groups have been able to obtain collateral-free microloans in which the interest rate was lowered to 3% per annum from 14%. An indication of the effectiveness and success of the implementation of the project in the country is the fact that the project was incorporated into the State programmes “Year of Well-Being and Prosperity” (2013) and “Year of Child Health” (2014).

Question 18. The conditions of the incarceration of women offenders meet the requirements of Republic of Uzbekistan law, as well as the Bangkok Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners.

Upon arrival at the facility, women offenders are provided the requisite information on the rules and conditions for serving their sentence, and their rights and duties are explained to them in a language they understand; foreign nationals are, in the prescribed manner, allowed meetings with consulate representatives.

When women offenders are being admitted to the facility, the number of children of the women entering the facility is also entered to the records, as are the personal data of those children. All information pertaining to the Identity of the children is kept confidential.

The women sentenced to incarceration are separated from the men and kept in a unit specially designated for women offenders serving their sentences. That unit is the only one of its kind in the republic. In the unit, the women offenders are separated into groups: juveniles are separated from adults, and first-time offenders are separated from particularly dangerous recidivists and other re-offenders.

The unit has hygiene rooms in which the proper amenities are available, including hot and cold running water; the facilities and materials required to meet the specific hygiene needs of women, including pregnant women and nursing mothers, are on hand.

In accordance with the law, the protection of inmates’ rights is guaranteed, and according to that law, the authorities in places of short-term detention or remand centres facilitate interviews and conversations between inmates and the Human Rights Commissioner [Ombudsman]; inmates' correspondence with the Ombudsman is not censored and is forwarded or passed on to the addressee under seal no later than one working day after the date of submission.

Moreover, the Ombudsman, when investigating a complaint or acting proprio motu, may visit correctional facilities.

In 2013, the Ombudsman received 116 complaints from inmates serving their sentences in correctional facilities: 19 women and 97 men requested protection of their rights. A total of 103 requests were taken under advisement, and in five of those cases, inmates’ rights were restored. In 2014, the Ombudsman received 112 complaints: 14 from women, and 98 from men. A total of 101 were taken under advisement, and inmates’ rights were restored in four of those cases.

The Ombudsman, together with representatives of international non-governmental organizations, visits places of incarceration with the aim of guaranteeing convicts’ rights and becoming familiar with the conditions in which sentences are served. For example, the Ombudsman visited five correctional facilities in 2011, four in 2012, and three in 2014.

Draft instructions No. 16 of 18 April 2012 were drawn up in collaboration with the Main Penal Corrections Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to set out the procedure for the regional representative of the Ombudsman to carry out visits to Main Penal Corrections Department prison facilities; according to the instructions, the regional representative can himself arrange to receive oral or written complaints, applications, or other requests.

With an eye to increasing the effectiveness of the mechanisms for protecting the rights of prisoners, the Ombudsman, in accordance with the recommendations of the UN Human Rights Council, has begun work to create a national preventive mechanism: a draft regulation has been prepared, and the work of the national preventive mechanisms of Poland, Slovenia, Austria and Bulgaria has been studied.

Questions concerning the operation of the mechanism were the subject of discussion at the international conference “Further Reform of the Judicial and Legal System—A Priority Area of Development and Democratization of Society”, held on 23 and 24 June 2014 in Tashkent, as well as at the 22-24 July 2014 session of the Summer School, which was organized by the Human Rights Commissioner, with the assistance of the OSCE project coordinator in Uzbekistan, during which the experience of Poland, Slovenia and Bulgaria with national preventive mechanisms was studied.

Question 19. Legislative and other measures are being taken to address child, early and forced marriage.

A 28 March 2013 law spelled out in detail the grounds in article 15 of the Family Code for lowering the marriageable age by no more than one year (pregnancy, childbirth, adjudication of a minor to be fully competent, or emancipated) and also contained a provision for a premarital medical examination for persons over 50 years of age, if they consent to it (Art. 17). To prevent early marriages and child marriages, Article 125-1 was incorporated into the Criminal Code, and Article 47-3 regarding the liability for violation of the law on marriageable age was incorporated into the Code of Administrative Liability.

A total of 627,421 marriages were recorded in 2011, and 296,055 were recorded in 2014 (fewer by 331,366); 12 of those in 2014 involved the lowered marriageable age by decision of khokims.

A downward trend is being observed in women entering into early marriages: if there were 53 marriages recorded in 2011 in which the bride was 16 years of age (0.02%), there were only 12 (0.004%) in 2014.

In 2014, a downward trend is observed in early childbirths among 15- and 16‑year-old girls, with 68 fewer childbirths than in 2011 (165-97) [sic].

On the basis of the law on guarantees of the rights of the child, the Ministry of Justice has developed a draft law amending the Family Code. The draft law sets the marriageable age at 18 for both women and men. It is now under review in the Parliament.

In 2014, the Ministry of Justice and its local agencies conducted more than 5,000 public awareness campaigns on the consequences of early marriages, as a result of which 1,455 early marriages were prevented. In lyceums and colleges, Civil Registry Office authorities have held 4,179 “Schools for Young Families” classes, attended by more than 200,000 students, who learned about the adverse consequences of early marriages and consanguineous marriages.

The procurator’s offices have conducted 4,991 campaigns, including 2,653 since violation of the law on marital age was made punishable, and, as a result of which, 889 early marriages were prevented. Administrative charges were filed against 28 parents who allowed such marriages, against 23 husbands, and against 5 persons who performed the religious ceremony.

Question 20. Uzbekistan law prohibits polygamous relations between men and women.

Under the Family Code, marriages entered into in a nikokh religious ceremony have no legal validity. Polygamy is punishable by incarceration for up to three years (Art. 126 of the Criminal Code).

Criminal courts heard 33 cases under Article 126 of the Criminal Code (Polygamy) in 2014 and one case during the first three months of 2015. Under Article 136 of the Criminal Code (Forcing a woman to enter into marriage or preventing her from entering into a marriage), criminal courts have heard 24 cases involving 60 persons.

It should be noted that the increase in the number of persons criminally prosecuted for polygamy (2013) is due to the stepped-up efforts of law enforcement authorities to detect cases of polygamy.

Question 21. Under Article 5 of the Family Code, family law sets the rules and conditions for entry into, termination of, and annulment of marriage; regulates the personal non-property and property relations between family members—spouses, parents and children (adoptive persons and adopted persons)—and, in cases and within the limits established by family law, between other relatives and other persons; and determines the forms and rules for the placement into the family of children who are without parental care and the rules for civil registration.

Under Article 11 of the Family Code, family rights are protected by the courts in accordance with the rules of civil procedure.

A marriage contracted in a religious ceremony has no legal effect.

National law has provisions that pertain to the protection of women’s rights in the event of the dissolution of a civil union. The Civil Procedure Code (para. 2, Ch. 2., Art. 283) regulates certain aspects of the establishment of the fact of a person’s dependency, including the fact of a woman’s dependence on a civil spouse.

Under paragraph 9 of the Supreme Court’s Plenary Decision of 20 December 1991 on precedents based on cases establishing the existence of legal effect, courts must bear in mind that the establishment of dependence on a person now deceased is relevant to the receipt of an inheritance, the award of a pension, or indemnification if the assistance being provided was the permanent and primary means of the applicant’s livelihood.

In cases in which the applicant has a wage, receives a pension or a stipend or has some other source of income, it is necessary to ascertain whether the assistance from the person who was providing maintenance was the permanent and primary means of the applicant’s livelihood.

Question 22. Questions of the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention and approval of the amendment to Article 20(1) are at this time are in the stage in which the practices attending the application of the provisions of the above documents in developed foreign countries are being studied.

Annex

Pay scales by sector, including information on the distribution of men and women in various sectors covered by trade union membership, as of 1 January 2015

No.	Sector	Type of pay scale employed		Number of working members of trade unions
	Total	consisting of
men	women
1 .	Aviation	OTSS	18,506	12,690	5,816
2.	Agroindustrial complex	At 16,084 enterprises: LTS covering 433,836 workers , at the rest: YeTS	1,344,581	852,017	492,564
3.	Communications	At 4 enterprises: LTS covering 1,134 workers; at the rest: YeTS	45,765	27,110	18,655
4.	State institutions and public service	At 960 enterprises: LTS covering 52,397 workers; at the rest: YeTS	253,947	160,066	93,881
5.	Consumer goods producers, trade and service organizations	At 20,134 enterprises: LTS covering 69,253 workers; at the rest: YeTS	323,167	177,981	145,186
6.	Chemical industry	At 10 enterprises: LTS covering 26,619 workers; at the rest: YeTS	39,476	25,462	14,014
7.	Oil, gas and geology	OTSS	135,272	112,141	23,131
8.	Metallurgy and machine building	At 21 enterprises: LTS covering 20,613 workers; at the rest: YeTS	64,893	50,038	14855
9.	Health care and pharmaceuticals	OTSP	607,168	154,288	452,880
10	Education, science and culture	OTSP	997,341	310,821	686,520
11.	Railroads and transport construction	OTSS	76,256	60,009	16,247
12.	Transportation, road construction , capital projects	At 687 enterprises: LTS covering 146,256 workers; at the rest:	210,422	175,764	34,658
	and construction industry	YeTS
13.	Energy	OTSS	71,721	58,927	12,794
14.	Almalyk Mining and Metallurgy Complex	LTS	29,911	22,866	7,045
Total		4,218,426	2,200,180	2,018,246

Abbreviations.

ETC [YeTS] — Unified pay scale approved by the Government;

OTSP [OTSP] — Sector pay scale approved by the Government;

OTSS [OTSS] — Sector pay scale adopted by agreement with sector trade union;

ЛTC [LTS]— Local pay scale adopted by agreement with trade union committee.

Contingent of students attending medical colleges of the Republic of Uzbekistan as of 1 May 2015

Number	Number	Of those
of medical colleges	of students	Female		Male
		Number	as a %	Number	as a %
78	134,236	120,035	89.4	14,201	10.6

Contingent of students attending medical higher learning institutions of the Republic of Uzbekistan as of 1 May 2015

Med. VUZes	Number of students	Of those
Female		Male
Number	as a %	Number	as a %
Undergraduate	19,934	14,042	70.4	5,892	29.6
Graduate	2,175	1,389	63.9	786	36.1