International Conference
“
Science of the 21st century: society and digitalization
”
Conference Proceedings. Scope Academic House, January 30, 2021, Sheffield, UK.
64
POSITION OF UZBEKISTAN IN THE RULE OF LAW INDEX (WORLD JUSTICE) ON THE
INDICATOR OF PROTECTION OF FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS
Mavlanov K.T.
Mavlanov Kamoliddin Toychievich,
Teacher at Tashkent State University of Law
The article researches into the value of the Rule of Law Index run by an independent
non-profit organization World Justice Project (WJP), as well as position of the Republic
of Uzbekistan in this index and the importance of it in ensuring fundamental human
rights. The need to study the experience of countries that achieved highest scores in
protection of
suspect’s
rights is also emphasized.
Keywords: suspect, fundamental human rights, index, defense, crime.
The World Justice Project (WJP), an international independent non-profit
organization, has published rankings on the Rule of Law Index for 2020. This
NGO’s
reports and researches are based on the opinions and experiences of experts and
representatives of wide range society from all around the world. For example, the 2019-
year Rule of Law Index ranking was based on more than one hundred and twenty
thousand surveys from 126 countries and conclusions of about 3800 experts. Uzbekistan
was indexed 92
nd
among 128 countries in this Index. It should be noted that Rule of Law
Index has been published by this organization since 2009 and information about
Uzbekistan began to appear in the reports from 2012 [1]. Until then, our country was not
included in this list. The following eight indicators are considered the basis in determining
the ranking:
1.
Limitation of government powers;
2.
Corruption rate;
3.
Government openness;
4.
Protection of fundamental rights;
5.
Order and security;
6.
Law enforcement practice;
7.
Fairness of civil proceedings;
8.
Fairness of criminal proceedings.
Each of these indicators are assessed on a 100-point scale, and a
country’s
index is
revealed when total points earned is calculated relatively to the number of indicators.
Thus, the overall result of the Republic of Uzbekistan on this index is not satisfactory.
However, according to some of the above indicators, our country also occupies a relatively
high position. In particular, we rank 67th out of 126 countries in terms of criminal justice
(indicator 8) in our country.
In addition, by assessing subfactor 8.7 of the Index (Due process of law and rights of
the accused), our country was placed 93
rd
among 128 countries [2]. The same index was
obtained within Factor Four of the index that is entitled as "Protection of Fundamental
Rights". Subfactors
“due
process of law and the rights of the
accused”
(4.3 and 8.7) are
based on the following internal criteria:
International Conference
“
Science of the 21st century: society and digitalization
”
Conference Proceedings. Scope Academic House, January 30, 2021, Sheffield, UK.
65
- Respect for the rights of persons suspected of committing a crime (including
observance of the presumption of innocence and the right to arbitrary arrest and
detention);
- Opportunity of suspects have evidence against themselves and to argue against it;
- Abuse of power in the regard with suspects;
- Ensuring of
suspects’
right to protection.
Seeing the above mentioned, it can be concluded that Subfactors 4.3 and 8.7 of the
Index are the same in content, and therefore indicators of our country on these both
subfactors are equal. Thus, by further improving the above legal institutions, the Republic
of Uzbekistan will be able to obtain a higher position in the Rule of Law Index. This
requires us to study the criminal procedure legislation of the countries that occupy higher
positions in the ranking.
References:
1.
https://worldjusticeproject.org/rule-of-law-
index/country/2020/Uzbekistan/Fundamental%20Rights/
2.
http://www.minjust.uz/ru/press-center/news/89896/
