One of the first acts that consolidated the legal foundations of the anti-corruption policy of the Republic of Uzbekistan is the law “On Combating Corruption”, adopted on January 3, 2017.
Today, citizens of Uzbekistan directly experience rapid changes in the political, legal, socio-economic life of our country, the formation of new relations in society, new opportunities.
It is noteworthy that such fundamental democratic concepts and values as “human rights and freedoms”, “rule of law”, “openness and transparency”, “freedom of speech”, “public control”, “inviolability of private property”, “freedom of economic activity” , become the reality of our lives. Since 2017, we have been following the course of creating effective anti-corruption mechanisms; we have consistently pursued an anti-corruption policy based on international standards.
International standards such as the priority of preventing corruption, public control, openness of government agencies, transparency of government procurement and other budgetary processes, financial control, digitalization of public services, regulation of conflicts of interest, compliance control in combating corruption, are reflected in a number of legal acts.
In Uzbekistan, since 2017, in order to ensure consistency in anti-corruption measures, the practice of adopting state programs designed for every 2 years (2017-2018, 2019-2020, 2021-2022) has been introduced.
In addition, based on best foreign experience, a mechanism was introduced to reward individuals who reported corruption violations or otherwise contributed to the fight against corruption. Based on the principle of “corruption-free legislation”, a procedure for conducting anti-corruption examination of legislative acts and their drafts was introduced. Representatives of scientific organizations and higher educational institutions, as well as independent experts, are given the right to conduct scientific and independent anti-corruption examination of regulations and their drafts.
In general, it can be noted that Uzbekistan has formed a regulatory framework to combat corruption, a strong institutional framework has been created (a symbiosis of preventive and criminal legal measures), including new anti-corruption tools. This is the personal responsibility of managers for the corruption of subordinates, the introduction of anti-corruption compliance in government organizations, the exclusion of the possibility of early release for those convicted of serious and especially serious corruption crimes.
In 2020, the National Anti-Corruption Council of the Republic of Uzbekistan and an independent, accountable body – the Anti-Corruption Agency of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which is empowered to coordinate the activities of bodies and organizations involved in combating corruption, were created.
We have gradually achieved positive results in the development of the civil service, selection for civil service and the formation of an intolerant attitude towards corruption among civil servants.
It should be noted that for the first time in the history of our independent state, the Law “On State Civil Service” was adopted, strictly defining the legal status, rights and responsibilities of civil servants.
All government bodies and organizations have introduced a procedure for recruiting personnel on an open competitive basis, broadcasting this process in real time via the Internet. All this allows us to recruit into the public service not only mature specialists in their field, but also highly moral, respectable, highly spiritual and patriotic citizens.
It is also important to note that since 2021, the practice of preparing a national report has been introduced in order to inform the public about the content and essence of the state policy of Uzbekistan in the field of anti-corruption, the reforms carried out in this direction and their results.
Thus, the main directions of the anti-corruption state policy of the Republic of Uzbekistan include three interrelated blocks: the first is the formation of an anti-corruption legal culture; second – eliminating the preconditions for corruption; third – ensuring the inevitability of responsibility. That is, a person should not want to be corrupt, should not be able to be corrupt and should be afraid of being corrupt.
This year, the head of our state, with the active participation of the people, expanded democratic reforms and carried out a deep constitutional reform. The Message of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the Oliy Majlis and the people of Uzbekistan dated December 20, 2022 noted: “In order to combat corruption, special laws were adopted and a legal framework was created. Now we need to intensify practical work. All loopholes that allow artificial monopoly, closed schemes, and corruption in general will be eliminated.”
A course has been taken to demonopolize power, expand the participation of citizens in government, transition to a new formula of the political system, demonopolize the economy and return assets illegally taken out of the country.
The key to successful development of the country is a change in the values of citizens, including government officials. In the second chapter of Article 6 of the UN Convention against Corruption, close attention is paid to anti-corruption education, especially the younger generation. “Preventing corruption through the expansion and dissemination of relevant knowledge” is recognized as one of the main mechanisms for preventing corruption.
It should be noted that all these changes were the result of the implementation of anti-corruption standards recognized throughout the world. Monitoring government policies in the field of anti-corruption and assessing the effectiveness of government measures in the fight against corruption are used to develop recommendations for the government and the public.
The most striking example is the international organization (NGO) Transparency International (TI), which conducts research on corruption in different countries, including the Corruption Perceptions Index, which determines the level of corruption in different countries.
The most striking example is the international organization (NGO) Transparency International (TI), which conducts research on corruption in different countries, including the Corruption Perceptions Index, which determines the level of corruption in different countries.
It is important to note that thanks to systemic anti-corruption reforms over the past 6 years, Uzbekistan has improved its position in the Corruption Perceptions Index. According to Transparency International (TI), Uzbekistan took 126th place in 2022 out of 158 positions in 2016.
In the Uzbekistan-2030 Strategy, the fight against corruption is identified as one of the most important priorities; by 2030, our country strives to improve its position by 50 points and rise to 76th place in the Corruption Perceptions Index.
Thus, anti-corruption is an important part of the domestic and foreign policy of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and our country actively cooperates with anti-corruption authorities of other countries and international organizations working in the field of anti-corruption.
Sharif Kabilov,
professor of the Department of the Academy
of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Republic of Uzbekistan
