PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS: NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE

The public discussion of the draft constitutional law “On Amendments and Additions to the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan” is being held based on the principles “The people are the only source and author of laws” and “All important decisions are made on the basis of direct dialogue with the people and taking into account public opinion.”

The updated Constitution as the legal basis for establishing a new Uzbekistan

At the meeting with the members of the Constitutional Commission in June of this year, the President emphasized that the updated Constitution should create a solid legal basis and a reliable guarantee for the long-term development strategies of our country, as well as for the future prosperous life of our country and people.

It should be noted that the idea of “For human dignity” put forward by the President, as well as the main principle of the fundamental reforms implemented in New Uzbekistan, the “Man - society – state” approach, deeply embedded in the content of our Constitution, the constitutional law “On Amendments and Additions to the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan” became the priority task of creating the project.

Our Constitution has been improved over the years based on the needs of our people, the demands of reforms and the times we live in. Now, the wide-scale tasks defined in the development strategy of New Uzbekistan, the establishment of a people-friendly state, the more effective provision of human rights and interests, and the value of human dignity, create the need to create a new constitutional and legal space suitable for fundamental reforms in our country.

Also, the global problems that are happening in the world and the international life, which is changing day by day, require the implementation of new and extremely important life tasks that cannot be delayed in solving large-scale issues such as further modernization of our country, ensuring peace, stable development, and improving the legal foundations of foreign policy.

Today New Uzbekistan has become a state based on democratic principles, universally recognized principles and norms regarding human rights and freedoms, and the ultimate goal of which is to create a free, prosperous and prosperous life for the people.

It should be noted that any reform is based on a strong constitutional-legal basis, and will achieve the noble goals and noble tasks and effective results. In fact, looking at the experience of Uzbekistan and the world, it can be observed that constitutional reforms were implemented during the period of radical change, and that reforms become irreversible only when they are supported by the people and serve to realize the people's hopes and dreams.

The updated Constitution is a truly people's Constitution

As the President Shavkat Mirziyoyev noted “If we implement the constitutional reform on the basis of the opinion and support of our citizens, through a referendum, it will literally be an expression of the will of our people - a real people's Constitution.”

The main author and creator of our updated Constitution is literally the people of Uzbekistan. This conclusion is based on:

First, the idea of implementing constitutional reforms and its importance in the development of the state and society was proposed for the first time by the population and voters who know that “New Uzbekistan needs a renewed Constitution.”

After all, during the presidential election of Uzbekistan in October 2021, during the meeting of the candidates with representatives of the electorate, an important proposal, which is a logical continuation of the democratic reforms in our country - the implementation of the constitutional reform - was put on the agenda.

This shows, on the one hand, that the policy of democratic reforms within the framework of the strategy of the President of New Uzbekistan is widely supported, and on the other hand, that the voters are interested in fundamental changes in the country.

Secondly, in order to generalize, systematize, in-depth analysis of the ideas put forward by the people, and at this stage of the country's development, in order to create New Uzbekistan and the foundations of the Third Renaissance, to radically improve the activities in the field of society and state administration, the President defined the priority directions of constitutional reforms.

Thirdly, the deputies and senators of the Oliy Majlis, directly elected by the people, are leading the implementation of constitutional reforms. Also, the inclusion of representatives of the academic community, non-governmental non-profit organizations and other institutions of civil society in the Constitutional Commission formed by the parliament, along with the participation of people's representatives in the constitutional reforms, serves to ensure its populism and conformity with democratic principles and rules recognized in the world.

Fourthly, more than 150,000 proposals were received on the basis of traditional appeals and collective proposals through the collective center, direct reception of citizens, the “Meningkonstitutsiyam.uz” platform, and traditional appeals. This is more than 25 times more than the 1992 public hearing. 56% of these suggestions were made by men, 40% by women, and 4% were made anonymously. Proposals sent by compatriots abroad were also taken into account, discussed in detail with the participation of the scientific community, and presented to the Constitutional Commission.

Fifthly, the analysis of opinions, initiatives and proposals expressed by citizens at local meetings shows that our people are not indifferent to the changes in New Uzbekistan, but are becoming an active and interested participant in reforms, especially constitutional reforms.

Sixth, it is necessary to recognize the active participation of non-governmental non-profit organizations, mass media and other institutions of civil society, legal scholars, academic community, “think-tanks” in constitutional reforms. Institutions of civil society closely supported the activities of the Constitutional Commission:

More than 400 global and regional conventions, declarations, resolutions and international experience in constitutional development adopted within the framework of the UN, OSCE, SCO, EU, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Organization of Turkic States and other international organizations were studied, constitutions of 193 countries, constitutional reforms were systematically was analyzed;

More than 10 works such as “Constitutions of Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states”, “World constitutions”, “Constitutional reforms: experience of world countries” (5 volumes) were created on the basis of deep analysis and studies of international and foreign experience. Based on them, opinions, proposals and recommendations regarding the constitutional law draft and reforms were developed.

 Proposals of civil society institutions, including “glorification of human dignity and value”, consistent implementation of the new “man - society – state” paradigm in life, establishment of a populist, just and social state, constitutional strengthening of the role and status of civil society institutions, children, women ¬-included areas such as ensuring freedoms, rights and legal interests of girls and persons with disabilities, solving environmental problems.

For the first time in the history of independent Uzbekistan, the draft constitutional law, based on the direct participation and initiative of civil institutions, protects the public, gender, children's rights, human rights, in particular, the dignity, rights and freedoms of persons with disabilities, builds a social state, supports entrepreneurship. A number of directions, such as support and protection of private property, as well as anti-corruption and linguistic expertise, were conducted. More than 300 non-governmental non-profit organizations participated in public expertise.

Openness and transparency are important principles of constitutional reforms

The Constitutional Commission conducted its activities strictly based on the principles of openness and transparency. In particular, representatives of scientific research institutions, relevant state and non-governmental non-profit organizations, neighborhoods, other institutions of civil society, national and international experts in the field were actively involved in this commission.

The activity of the Press Service of the Constitutional Commission took a special place in this. In particular, the Press Service is particularly active in conveying the importance, priorities and main directions of the constitutional reforms, the innovations introduced into the Constitution for our citizens in a simple and understandable language. The participation of journalists and bloggers is ensured in the work of widely introducing the draft constitutional law to the population, organizing a wide public discussion of each article in the mass media, the Internet and social networks, studying the opinion of citizens, and ensuring strong relations between the population and the Constitutional Commission in this regard.

In this regard, the Press Service carries out its activities in two directions:

firstly, coverage of constitutional reforms in mass media and social networks:

13 thousand 824 films, interviews, informative and special programs were broadcasted on state and non-state TV channels, 3730 informative and special broadcasts were organized on radio channels;

1,303 articles were published in printed publications, 7,122 were published in Internet publications, and 49,545 information materials were published on social networks such as “Telegram”, “Facebook”, “Instagram”, “YouTube”.

Information materials published on the Internet alone were viewed by users more than 245 million times and more than 109 thousand comments were left. Also, the official pages of the Press Service on social networks and the Internet portal www.meningkonstitutsiyam.uz are posting information about the activities of the Commission and constitutional reforms. To date, more than 1000 information materials (in Uzbek, Karakalpak, Russian and English) have been posted. Today, the number of users of this portal has increased dramatically, reaching 73,600 people. 15 thousand 872 comments and 384 additional suggestions were left by the users of the portal to the proposals received from citizens;

secondly, to help ensure the openness and transparency of the work of the Constitutional Commission:

Organization of briefings and press conferences dedicated to the activities of the Constitutional Commission and working groups was systematically launched;

more than 490 reports and videos aimed at promoting constitutional reforms are being prepared and widely covered in mass media and social networks. Also, a total of 77 “Backstage” reports in special Uzbek and Russian languages reflecting the activities of the Commission, the work processes of the groups under the commission, and the processes of receiving proposals from citizens, are being filmed and widely promoted in the mass media and social networks;

14 issues of analytical comments entitled “Constitutional reforms from the perspective of newspapers” were prepared and widely covered in order to familiarize newspaper subscribers with constitutional reforms, their content and opinions expressed by experts in the field, commission members, and active public representatives;

It was organized to send SMS-notifications to citizens through all mobile communication operators aimed at being active in the process of constitutional reforms with their suggestions. These “SMS” were sent to 30 million subscribers.

It is worth noting that political parties are carrying out productive activities during the process of constitutional reforms. According to the analysis, more than 17,000 events were held by 5 political parties, 657,000 citizens took part in them, and more than 24,000 proposals were collected aimed at further improving the draft constitutional law and deepening democratic reforms in our country.

Most importantly, various issues, which were previously called “the most difficult”, “inconvenient”, “extremely sensitive”, were brought up in the discussions, regardless of whether they are related to the economic, social, political, legal or environmental, humanitarian and other areas were placed at the center of the discussion. Diversity of thoughts and ideas in the society, competition between them was clearly demonstrated.

Undoubtedly, all this is a unique democratic indicator, which serves to ensure that the updated Constitution of Uzbekistan is a real people's Constitution and polish every article taking into account the opinion of the population.

The draft constitutional law is recognized by the international community

In creating the draft constitutional law, the recommendations of the United Nations on constitutional reforms, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the “Paris Charter for a New Europe” of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the “European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights” of the European Union, the international and regional legal documents adopted within the framework of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and other international structures on the involvement of representatives of all levels of society in the processes of state and community management were taken into account.

More than 100 national and more than 40 international forums, including in foreign countries (USA, Great Britain, Korea, Poland) dedicated to constitutional reform and various innovations of the draft constitutional law in cooperation with state and non-governmental non-profit organizations, academic community, international and foreign non-governmental organizations , Russia, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Japan, India) were held.

More than 500 international and foreign experts, members of parliament, state and public figures, political scientists participated in them and gave their positive opinions and practical recommendations regarding the draft constitutional law and reforms.

Permanent representatives and experts of the missions of more than 40 member states in the regions of Asia, Europe, North and South America, and Africa, as well as employees of various UN structures, took part in the international roundtable discussion on constitutional reforms in Uzbekistan at the headquarters of the UN in New York alone. At the event, a unique experience in the history of Uzbekistan - the fact that the constitutional law is being discussed by the whole nation, that the constitutional reform corresponds to the interests of every citizen, regardless of nationality, religion, age, gender, and social status, and the efforts aimed at ensuring the inclusiveness of the reform were specially recognized.

In particular, Azerbaijan's permanent representative to the UN, Ya. Aliev, and Sh. Mitsuta, an expert of Japan's mission to the UN, highly appreciated the work of the Constitutional Commission on the in-depth study of advanced international experience in the field of constitutional law-making. He firmly believed that the constitutional reforms will be successfully completed with the support of the people through the referendum.

Counselor of Germany's Permanent Mission to the UN, M. Koll, noted that the approach used by Uzbekistan in updating the Constitution is a bright example of ensuring the inclusiveness and comprehensiveness of the reforms and effectively solving the tasks facing the state.

The participants of this international roundtable specifically noted that the amendments to the new Constitution of Uzbekistan are consistent with the goals of the UN's agenda for sustainable development until 2030.

The General Secretary of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Martin Chungong, stated that the constitutional reforms in our country were positively evaluated and supported by more than 30 international organizations that participated in the roundtable discussion on “Constitutional reforms: ensuring human dignity and rights” organized at the UN headquarters in Geneva (Switzerland). charging.

M. Chungong paid special attention to the fact that one of the priorities of the constitutional reforms is the further development of the constitutional-legal basis for ensuring the effective protection of the dignity, rights, freedoms and legal interests of women and girls. The proposed amendments and additions to our Constitution emphasized full compliance with the norms and principles of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action.

It should be noted that, for the first time in the history of independent Uzbekistan, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights received official comments and suggestions on the draft constitutional law.

A number of international organizations and experts are fully aware of the national discussion of the constitutional law, the relevant recommendations of the United Nations on constitutional reforms, the relevant documents of other international and regional organizations, the priority trends of modern constitutional development in the world, as well as the priority principle “The people are the only source and author of laws”. is considered to have been carried out in compliance. At the same time, he emphasizes the expediency of adopting this constitutional law on the basis of a national referendum.

Akmal Saidov,

First Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis