Reforms in Uzbekistan are Based on the Principle

Reforms in Uzbekistan are based on the principle “The stronger the public control, the more humane, free and fair the state is”

The most important feature of civil society is that citizens exercise full control over the activities of state structures. According to Article 36 of the Constitution of Uzbekistan in the new edition, our citizens have the right to participate directly and through their representatives in the management of the affairs of society and the state. Such participation is carried out through self-government, referendums and democratic formation of state bodies, as well as public control over the activities of state bodies. The procedure for implementing public control over the activities of state bodies is established by law.

In order to organize and regulate relations in the sphere of public control over the activities of state bodies and institutions, the law “On public control” was adopted on April 12, 2018. According to this law, public control is carried out in such forms as appeals and requests to state bodies, public discussions, public hearings, public monitoring, and study is carried out by self-governing bodies of citizens in such forms as hearing reports and information from officials of state bodies.

In our country, consistent work is underway to implement public control and improve the regulatory framework governing this area. The Decree of the President of May 4, 2018 established the badge “For Contribution to the Development of Civil Society”, the Resolution of the President of Uzbekistan of July 4, 2018 “On Measures to Organize the Activities of Public Councils under State Bodies” were of great importance in accelerating work in this area. This resolution establishes the procedure for organizing the main tasks, functions, powers and activities of a public council under state bodies, which mainly provides that a public council is created by a decision of the head of a state body, carries out its work on a voluntary basis and is assumed to conduct its work on a public basis, and is also considered as a permanent consultative and advisory body, whose decisions will be advisory in nature.

As Shavkat Mirziyoyev emphasized, “there is no more effective tool for achieving the supremacy of the Constitution and the law than public control.” Public control is an important institution of democracy and people’s power, it serves to ensure the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of citizens by exercising control over the activities of state bodies.

In recent years, our republic has paid special attention to ensuring the participation of citizens in the management of society and public affairs, creating effective mechanisms for public control over the activities of the executive branch, and further strengthening the functions of public control. In particular, at the initiative of the President of Uzbekistan, a public chamber was created in 2020 in order to further strengthen public control and establish close cooperation between the state and society. It was noted that the public chamber should regularly study the opinion of the population, set specific tasks for government agencies to find their solutions. The importance of introducing such influential forms of control as “public hearings”, “public monitoring”, “public examination”, “public initiative” was demonstrated.

According to the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On measures to expand funding for projects formed on the basis of public opinion”, adopted on October 25, 2022, an additional 335 billion soums were allocated for the implementation of 364 projects, each of which received more than 2 thousand votes in July-September 2022.

In recent years of modern development in our republic, the system of public administration has been improved, effective mechanisms of dialogue with the people have been introduced, and the effectiveness of the role and activities of the Institute of Mahalla in the management of society has increased. Virtual and people’s reception offices of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan were created in order to ensure the interests of the person, to understand and solve the problems and needs of the people. These structures have become a mechanism for in-depth analysis of problems at the local level and a criterion for increasing the responsibility of state bodies and officials to society and assessing their activities.

Today, systems such as “online reception” and “virtual visit” have been implemented, allowing for the rapid and cost-effective identification of problems at the local level in order to optimize their expenses related to the maintenance of the state administration apparatus, eliminate corruption factors, and establish effective public control over the expenditure of budget funds.

As an example, it is worth mentioning that in recent years a new system of dialogue with the people has been created – the activities of the presidential virtual and people’s reception offices. Of the 9,465,000 appeals received by the virtual reception office of the President, about 9,379,000 have been reviewed, the rest are also being resolved in accordance with the procedure established by law. The results of the public discussion can also be found on the “portal for discussions of draft regulatory legal acts” (regulation.gov.uz), which is clearly demonstrated by the example. To date, 25,384 draft regulatory legal acts have been posted on this portal for public discussion, of which 25,183 have already been completed.

In recent years, public opinion research has become publicly available. The Open Budget portal was launched to implement public control over targeted budget expenditures. Citizens can send messages about violations of budget legislation through the Portal, proposals for improving the budget process, while receiving information such as the state budget, budget execution through this portal. In particular, an initiative budget was launched through the Open Budget information portal, which is held twice a year. Thanks to this portal, citizens are focused on solving problems through joint voting. In the first season (February) of 2024, 35,575 initiatives were supported, for which 3,390.5 billion soums were allocated.

The establishment of accountability of state authorities to the parliament and local councils, as well as the introduction of the “Electronic Government” system, led to further strengthening of public control. As a result, today in our country there is a single interactive portal of state services (my.gov.uz), an open data portal (data.egov.uz), a portal for discussing draft regulatory documents (regulation.gov.uz), a complex of information systems “License” (license.gov.uz), an information system for automating the activities of centers “Single Window” (birdarcha.uz).

Since 2023, in order to improve the system of identifying and solving social problems among the population, our republic has established the practice of monthly hearings of information from the heads of relevant government agencies and organizations in the mahalla council, and new forms of public control have been introduced – “mahalla control” groups and “mahalla chairmen survey” institutions. Also, on the instructions of the President, the “digital mahalla” system and the “people’s control” platform have been improved.

The web portal “My Opinion”, which is under the jurisdiction of the public chamber, was created with the aim of expanding the opportunities for citizens in our country to participate in the management of society and the state, ensuring the openness of the activities of representative bodies of state power, ensuring the viability and effectiveness of the public administration system. Through this portal, a citizen can send proposals for legislation on important issues of state and public importance in the form of an electronic collective appeal. “Meningfikrim.uz”. To date, more than 6,670 collective appeals and about 30,000 comments have been received through the portal.

In recent years, political parties, which are considered to be one of the main subjects of civil society in our country, have been granted not only broad opportunities for free participation in elections, but also control over the executive power. Political parties also have the right to exercise public control based on the interests of the public and their electorate. During election processes, local observers at polling stations consist of representatives of political parties and citizens’ self-government bodies.

The role of mass media in developing openness and transparency in our society, establishing public control over the activities of state bodies and their officials, studying and resolving legal appeals of citizens is also incomparable. In particular, the number of media registered in 2016–2023 increased by 41%, i.e. in 2016 their number was 1,614, and by 2023 it reached 2,140. The number of mobile Internet users also exceeded 33 million.

As can be seen from the above, the main goal of public control is to ensure compliance with the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of citizens, to ensure legality in the activities of state bodies and officials, and to protect the interests of society.

Also, the strategy “Uzbekistan – 2030”, developed based on the results of public discussions in order to create a fair and modern state serving the people, identified such priority tasks as: creating the necessary conditions for public participation in the activities of local councils, broad involvement of civil society institutions and gradual digitalization of their activities, establishing the practice of assessing the activities of heads of state bodies and their deputies based on public opinion, and continuing intensive work to form an unacceptable attitude towards corruption in society.

As a result of public control, the activities of state bodies in the country are objectively studied, their shortcomings are identified, various violations of the law are prevented, public participation in the implementation of laws and their preparation is ensured, broader conditions are created for the prompt resolution of various problems in society and the expression of the will of the population, and special attention should be paid to the fact that public control implies not only control over the quality of work performed, but also the use of opportunities, as well as participation in their development.

In conclusion, I would like to note that in our republic, state public control has been given constitutional status. In the new Uzbekistan, the participation of citizens in the management of society and state affairs, including the development and improvement of public control over the activities of state bodies, provides ample opportunities for the full formation and strengthening of civil society in our country. The stronger the public control in the country, the more humane, free and fair the state is.