In the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan, for crimes against sexual freedom concerning minors and crimes related to committing sexual acts and indecent acts with them, life imprisonment or long-term imprisonment is prescribed for previously convicted persons when they commit certain crimes. Regarding this, yesterday, on March 3, the President signed a decree "On additional organizational-legal measures to strengthen the protection of the rights of women and children and to prevent cases of pressure and violence against them."
It outlined the following proposals on a number of issues causing justified public concern on social networks:
– tightening the administrative detention penalty for lechery, set at up to 5 days;
– establishing penalties for pedophiles up to life imprisonment;
– not transferring convicts who have committed sexual crimes against minors under Articles 118 and 119 of the Criminal Code to settlement-colonies;
– transferring the authority to investigate cases under 6 articles of the Criminal Code concerning sexual crimes from internal affairs bodies to the prosecutor's office;
– making a prosecutor's decision a condition in administrative offense materials on lechery regarding the absence of signs of a crime;
– involving lawyers, investigators, and judges specially trained in crimes of violence against women and children;
– installing special "SOS" applications on the phone devices of women and girls who have suffered from violence and been granted protection orders to strengthen their protection, whereby when the call button is pressed, internal affairs officers within a 5-kilometer radius must arrive at the location within 10 minutes, and others.
Furthermore, based on recommendations that 40 percent of marriages in our country are formed between 18-19 year olds, but the most acceptable marriage age according to international organizations is 21, as individuals who reach this age usually achieve financial independence and are comprehensively prepared to start a family, the following initiatives were outlined:
– implementing additional financial support mechanisms to encourage marriage formation between individuals who have reached 21 years of age;
– encouraging the conclusion of marriage contracts between spouses by providing exemptions from state duties;
– increasing the effectiveness of identifying early marriages by establishing a procedure to allocate 15 percent of the fine for violating legislation on marriage age to individuals who report such cases;
– establishing an inter-agency chain for reporting cases of early marriage and pregnancy up to 16 years of age to internal affairs bodies and "Inson" social service centers, while establishing administrative liability for failure to report the mentioned cases;
– preventing female students who are pregnant or raising a child under 3 years old from dropping out of education by providing them with the opportunity to continue their studies, among other proposals.
Our head of state approved the outlined initiatives, signed the relevant decree, and gave instructions to responsible persons regarding the widespread promotion of the innovations in this field among the public.
