New protections for women in Uzbekistan
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New protections for women in Uzbekistan
Until this month, Uzbekistan remained one of the only countries in the world that had no laws establishing domestic violence as a criminal offense. While the government only recently began to track domestic abuse rates, advocacy groups and scholars say the?problem is rampant?there. A?Human Rights Watch report?relayed that in the late 1990s, one Uzbek government-conducted survey found that “over 60 percent of female respondents considered domestic violence to be a ‘normal situation.’” No shelters for abused women existed until 2019, a particularly harsh circumstance in a country where many hotels won't give out rooms to women on their own.
While the issue is far from solved, in recent years the political will to address domestic violence and other gender-based violence in Uzbekistan has finally sprouted. On April 6, after a few years in which the legislation laid in draft limbo, the Uzbek Senate unanimously passed several amendments to its criminal code, officially?criminalizing domestic violence. (National outrage?over a sexual abuse case in a girls’ orphanage gave the legislation the final push.) Uzbekistan is the fifth country in Eastern Europe and Central Asia to do so, after Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and Ukraine.
The amendments to Uzbekistan's criminal code, Amnesty International reports, also “establish liability for the harassment and stalking of women, make early conditional release for sexual offenders impossible, and exclude ignorance of the age of sex crime victims as a way to avoid harsher criminal punishments.”
These recent changes are only the latest attempts from Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s administration to improve women’s rights in the country, including introducing a hotline, protection orders, and shelters for victims of domestic violence in 2018–19. In 2018, the government also adopted two laws on equal rights and opportunities for women.
The?changes are part of a larger movement to build a culture of human rights in the country, according to a 2020 report from the United Nations. In addition to gender equality, it?noted some progress?related to political prisoners, incarceration treatment, torture, human trafficking, and forced labor. (The topic of LGBTQ rights, though, was pushed back on; delegates from Uzbekistan said at the time that “decriminalization of same-sex relations had sparked outrage in the population and did not garner consensus.”)
Laws, of course, do not radically transform societies overnight. Even the announcement of the new amendments on the Uzbek Parliament website, according to Amnesty International, came with a statement about “strengthening the institution of the family,” a position that prioritizes the preservation of a marriage over the protection of a battered woman.
But they are part of the process. The Internet,?for all its negative coverage in the United States at the moment, is inescapable in a good way. Uzbek journalists report that patriarchal and misogynistic attitudes are?changing in the capital, Tashkent, and in other cities, especially among the youth, who have grown up exposed to other cultures online.?
Movement is slow, but slow movement is welcome, especially when you consider the alternative: a draft law on domestic violence was rejected in nearby Belarus in 2018, with President Alyaksandr Lukashenka commenting then, “A good belting could sometimes be useful.” There is still a way to go, but Uzbekistan has taken several first steps forward.
Quick hits
Despite the reputation of the broke Millennial, they’re actually?financially thriving, writes Jean M. Twenge in?The Atlantic. By and large, they’re well-educated, with rising incomes and homeownership rates akin to those of Boomers and Gen Xers at the same age. The data here is fascinating, as is Twenge’s focus on why it’s imperative the sour narrative catches up with the more positive reality. A must-read especially for my fellow, maybe-poor-maybe-not?Millennials.?
The last few weeks have seen one bit of fantastic malaria news after another. First, the Mosquirix vaccine, the first malaria vaccine to be developed, approved, and distributed, made a?dramatic reduction in malaria cases and hospitalizations?in Kenya, Malawi, and Ghana. Then, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan were?declared malaria-free?by the World Health Organization (WHO). Now,?Ghana has become the first country?to approve the R21 vaccine for use,?quickly followed by Nigeria.?The R21?malaria vaccine has been shown to be up to 80 percent effective in trials, much more than Mosquirix, so it will be?exciting?to see the effect that the distribution of both combined will have. The WHO and other African countries also currently have R21?under consideration for approval.
Below in the links section, a?new coral reef discovery, a Parkinson's breakthrough, and more.
—Emma Varvaloucas
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Richard V. Reeves?is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where he directs the Future of the Middle Class Initiative and co-directs the Center on Children and Families. He is the author most recently of?Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It. He writes for a wide range of publications, including?The New York Times,?The Guardian,?National Affairs,?The Atlantic,?Democracy Journal, and?The Wall Street Journal.
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Would like to see USA uphold DV laws as are written in MANDATORY COMMANDS giving Judges NO discretion but to grant DVRO when prove abuse,&in MANDATORY COMMANDS on orders&by BOTH state/fed law to uphold violations of DVRO&arrest violator...but BOTH Judges/police violate laws/orders once AGAIN to support man abuser.Judges will deny DVRO &tell woman it"affects the mans job,"which is NOT what law says.It says if prove abuse MUST grant DVRO.40%cops abuse spouse/kids but if proven in court,Judge denies DVRO as wants to help cop seen as "friend of court," once AGAIN violating statute/laws.Cops refuse to enforce violations DVRO saying will affect mans if arrested violating FACE of DVRO & state/fed law saying MUST arrest if violated. CA DA had told cops 3x violation before arrest= violating order/laws, & getting away w that harm... NOW bumped up to 5X violate before arrest... violating state laws& fed Violence Against Woman Act(VAWA)even renewed 2023. What is point of mandatory commands of laws & orders to protect women when men just do not enforce laws & orders in MANDATORY COMMANDS?Women think protected but by 5x harm they are living in fear/hiding,pets killed, kids abducted,women attacked...when they are supposed to be protected right?
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1 年The recent amendments to Uzbekistan's criminal code criminalizing domestic violence for the first time are a step in the right direction towards ending gender-based violence. Let's continue pushing for progress on this critical issue.