The USA Journals Volume 03 Issue 06-2021
46
The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology
(ISSN
–
2693-0803)
Published:
June 30, 2021 |
Pages:
46-53
Doi:
https://doi.org/10.37547/tajpslc/Volume03Issue06-07
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‘
ABSTRACT
In the article author examines the issues of participation of civil society institutions in the formation
of public councils under the ministries in Uzbekistan and foreign countries. In the course of the
study, the problems of ensuring the openness of the formation of public councils and the absence of
a procedure for nominating candidates by civil society institutions and self-nomination of citizens
were identified. Based on the results of the study, the author put forward practical
recommendations for determining the mechanism of citizens' participation in the formation of public
councils and ensuring their representativeness, independence and impartiality.
KEYWORDS
Advisory div, civil society institutions, civic participation, public control, consultation, lobbying.
INTRODUCTION
Consultation of public authorities with citizens
is recognized as one of the principles of public
administration [1, 13]. Therefore, increasing
the efficiency of public councils (PC) under
executive authorities both in Uzbekistan and
in foreign countries is in the focus of attention
of politicians and researchers. The main issues
of increasing the efficiency of PC are
recognized
to
ensure
their
representativeness,
balance
and
independence from the state bodies under
which they are created [2, 99; 3, 109-112]. The
relevance of these issues for Uzbekistan
shows the state and functioning of PC,
including under the ministries.
The study of national practice shows the
relative passivity of public councils in
The Prospects For The Formation Of Public Councils Under
The Ministries In Uzbekistan
Azizjon Ergashevich Yuldoshev
Associate Professor Of Tashkent State University Of Law, Phd In Law, Uzbekistan
Journal
Website:
http://theamericanjour
nals.com/index.php/taj
pslc
Copyright:
Original
content from this work
may be used under the
terms of the creative
commons
attributes
4.0 licence.
The USA Journals Volume 03 Issue 06-2021
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The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology
(ISSN
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2693-0803)
Published:
June 30, 2021 |
Pages:
46-53
Doi:
https://doi.org/10.37547/tajpslc/Volume03Issue06-07
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expressing public interests than in other
states. For example, according to the results
of monitoring carried out in 2019, it was
revealed that in some state bodies public
councils are just being formed, and most state
bodies did not provide information on their
activities [4]. In a study conducted in 2020, it
was revealed that some shortcomings in the
legislation and the administrative and
managerial culture that have formed over the
years cause certain difficulties for their
development.
The relatively passive activity of public
councils under the executive authorities in
Uzbekistan can be explained by the rather
short period of determining the legal basis for
their activities. Despite the fact that the first
public councils under the executive authorities
were officially formed back in 2012 [5], the
legal basis for their activities was determined
with the Resolution No. RP–3837 of the
President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, on
July 4, 2018 [6]. This Resolution approved the
Model Regulation of public councils under a
state div (Model Regulation).
Despite the difficulties in the creation and
functioning of public councils under the
executive authorities, certain results have
been achieved in this sphere. For instance,
according to the results of the analysis of the
activities of about 20 public councils in 2019-
2020, it was found that they participated in
the discussion of 61 draft laws, 75 draft
decrees and resolutions of the President, 139
draft governmental resolutions, 1,930 orders
of ministers and departments, heads of
regions, 18 resolutions of local Kengashes of
people’s deputies, 838 resolutions of khokims,
made 145 proposals for their improvement,
held public discussions of issues on education,
ecology, health care, the state of internal
roads and other spheres [7].
Polls of the population showed an interest in
formation public councils under state bodies,
including executive bodies, which proves the
need to intensify activities in this direction [4].
To take effective legal and organizational
measures to solve them, taking into account a
more detailed study of this problem in foreign
countries, it will be advisable to conduct a
comparative analysis of this issue.
It should be noted that today with various
names of public councils and structures similar
to activities and procedures of them function
under the executive authorities in foreign
countries. Therefore, to study them, it is
necessary to clarify the concept of “public
councils” under the executive authorities and
the functions they perform.
An institution called a public council under
state bodies as in Uzbekistan exists in Russia,
Belarus and several other states. In many
foreign countries, institutions similar to them
with other names exist and are being formed.
For instance, in the USA there are advisory
committees, in France – administrative
structures of an advisory nature, in the UK –
advisory Non-Departmental Public Bodies
(NDPBs) [8], in Sweden – agencies,
commissions [9, 656-657], in the EU – expert
groups [10, 71-86], etc. [11, 158] All these
bodies [12, 1189-1211], including public councils
are called advisory bodies [13, 104], which
shows the presence of their common
features.
A study of the definition of an advisory
committee in the United States shows that it
includes all advisory bodies, including public
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Pages:
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councils, other permanent and temporary
advisory structures under governmental
bodies, including expert and working groups.
Subject to Part 2, Section 3, Federal Law of the
United States, the term “advisory committee”
means any committee, commission, council,
conference, group, task force or other similar
group, or any subcommittee or other
subgroup,
which
is
formed
by
law,
reorganization plan, established or are used
by the President, one or more agencies in the
interest of receiving advice or guidance by
them or by federal government officials. This
term excludes any committee that is
composed entirely of employees of the
Federal Government, or formed by the
National Academy of Sciences or the National
Academy of Public Administration [14].
The definition of an advisory committee in the
United States focuses on advising the
authority and governmental agencies, which is
typical for the UK and most other countries
[15,181-198]. In spite of this, the advisory
bodies, conveying alternative points of view
to the representatives of the authorities,
provide an opportunity for all interested
parties to participate in the decision-making
process [16, 692]. In general, all of them in one
way or another through consultations
contribute to the relationship between the
state and citizens [17, 423], lobbying interests
[18, 42-49], civic participation [19, 40-52],
public control [20, 72], mobilization of various
social groups [21, 145].
In addition to performing similar functions,
advisory bodies also have common problems.
Today, the relative passivity of advisory
bodies, lobbying of private interests and the
influence of state bodies on them are such
problems that need to be addressed. To solve
these problems, researchers propose to
define the ethical standards of members of
advisory bodies [22, 87-88], strengthen their
responsibility to citizens [23,1309-1331], revise
the existing formation procedures and other
recommendations [24, 149-160].
MAIN PART
In Uzbekistan, in accordance with section 13 of
the Model Regulation, membership of a public
council under state bodies (public council), as
a rule, accepts labor veterans who served
exemplary in a state div, authoritative
citizens with extensive practical experience in
the spheres of public activity, as well as
representatives of NGOs, mass media and
other civil society institutions [5]. Section 14
establishes that its composition is approved
by the decision of the head of the state div
every 3 years. The absence of other rules
leaves the selection of candidates for
members of public councils at the discretion
of ministers.
To ensure the objectivity of the formation of
public councils, section 7 of the Decree No.
DP–6181of the President of the Republic of
Uzbekistan, on March 4, 2021, it was
established that the composition of public
councils is approved by the decision of the
head of the state div every two years after
agreement with the Public Chamber under the
President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the
total number of their members there can be
no less than 15 people, at least 50 percent of
whom must be representatives of NGOs [25].
However, the procedure for selecting
members of public councils and their
coordination with the Public Chamber has not
yet been determined.
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It is clear that the lack of a procedure for
selecting and nominating candidates for
members of public council is one of the
reasons for not creating them by some state
bodies. A study of the websites of all 24
ministries showed that 3 of them contain
Regulation on public councils, 3 of them
support the tasks they perform, 2 of them
contain information about their creation and
activities. In addition, only the Youth Uniion
[26] has been created in the Ministry of
Investment and Foreign Trade, and the
Advisory Council on Gender Equality in the
Ministry of Economic Development and
Poverty Reduction [27]. Also, despite the fact
that, according to section 16 of the Model
Regulations, information on the composition
of the Public Council and the changes made to
it within 5 days from the date of their approval
must be published on the official website of
the state div, this norm has not been
implemented, with the exception of the
Ministry of Water Resources [28] and Ministry
of Justice [29].
At the same time, the Public Council under the
Ministry of Water Resources of the Republic
of Uzbekistan consists of 9 members, of which
7 are employees of the Ministry, one is an
employee of an organization subordinate to
him, and the other is the Chief Editor of the
magazines “Agriculture and water sector of
Uzbekistan” and “Agro Ilm”, which is violation
of legislative acts. Even if the requirements for
the composition of public councils are fulfilled,
their members cannot be selected by the head
of a state div from among loyal NGO
representatives, regardless of whether they
were established with the participation of the
state or independently by citizens.
An important step in achieving objectivity and
activeness of public councils was determined
in section 4 of the Decree No. DP–6181 of the
President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, on
March 4, 2021, according to this, the number
of representatives of NGOs in public councils
shall constitute up to 5 percent in 2021 and 25
percent in 2025. The next step in this direction
would be to determine the mechanism of
participation of these organizations in the
selection of members of public councils.
It should be noted that in order to fill the gap
in legislation, the National Movement
“Yuksalish” with the support of the United
States Agency for International Development
(USAID), developed a Methodological Manual
for the Creation and Development of Public
Councils under the Government of the
Republic of Uzbekistan (Methodological
Manual) [30]. This manual recommends a
detailed procedure for the competitive
selection and nomination of members of the
public council in 6 stages, specially created for
this by the organizing committee and the
election
commission
with
the
wide
participation of NGOs.
At the same time, when studying the
Methodological Manual, it was revealed that
there
were
no
recommendations
for
nominating candidates for members of the PC.
It is known that not every member of the NGO
can participate on behalf of the NGO. These
and other questions show the necessity for
the most detailed regulation of the formation
of public councils.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The absence of a procedure for nominating
candidates for members of PC shows a
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violation of the requirements of the law. For
instance, when studying the websites of the
ministries, no announcements were found
about the competition for the selection of
candidates for PC, with the exception of the
Ministry of Public Education. In this
announcement, one of the requirements for
candidates is 3 years of experience in civil
society institutions in the field of the
ministry's activities [31]. it is not required to be
a representative of any institution of civil
society, which lowers the role of NGOs and
other civil society institutions in the activities
of public organization.
At first glance, the opinion about the necessity
for more detailed regulation of the
nomination and selection of candidates by
NGOs can be refuted by the US Law on
Advisory Committees. FACA only require the
membership of the advisory committee to be
fairly balanced in terms of the points of view
represented and the functions to be
performed by the advisory committee [14]. If
you study more deeply, it will become known
about the compliance of NGOs with the
requirements of democracy on the adoption
of collegial decisions and, accordingly, the
Roberts’ rules [32], which defines the
procedure for their adoption.
Taking into account the practice of the United
States,
it
is
advisable
to
establish
methodological support for the activities of
PC, since according to Articles 58 of the
Constitution and other norms of the
legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the
state cannot interfere in the activities of
public associations and other NGOs, including
determining in the legislation the procedure
for nominating candidates to PC. Therefore,
the methodological support of the activities of
public councils by section 2 of the Decree No.
DP–5980 of the President of the Republic of
Uzbekistan, on April 16, 2020, is defined as one
of the main activities of the Public Chamber
under the President of the Republic of
Uzbekistan
[33].
Consequently,
the
development
of
methodological
recommendations by the Public Chamber and
participation in their development is a
legitimate way of regulating the participation
of NGOs in the formation of the PC.
The issue of the participation of NGOs in the
formation of the PC can be solved by analogy
with the nomination of candidates for elective
positions by political parties in international
and national practice [34, 56-61]. As in most
states, in Uzbekistan, for the registration of a
candidate from a political party, a protocol,
the highest div of a political party, on the
nomination of a candidate is required.
To substantiate the above opinion, one can
cite as an example the relevant norms of the
Law of Kazakhstan “On Public Councils” [35].
According to section 1 of the second part of
Article 10 of the Law, the submission of a
written proposal to NGOs to nominate a
candidate to the Public Council is one of the
requirements
for
participation
in
the
competition. Part 4 and 5 of Article 9 of the
Law are also of particular interest, according
to which from one legal entity that is a non-
profit organization, only one representative
can be elected to the PC, and the same person
can be elected as a member of only one PC of
the republican level and not more than two
times in a row. These norms allow preventing
the strengthening of the position of one
organization and its lobbying of its interests.
CONCLUSION
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The conducted studies show the necessity for
more detailed regulation of the formation of
public councils, recommendations for their
implementation
and
law
enforcement
practice. The results of the study made it
possible to draw the following conclusions
and recommendations for improving the
procedure for the formation of PC under
ministries and other bodies.
In Uzbekistan, the requirements of the
democracy to the formation of PC are
observed, including non-interference in the
nomination of NGO candidates for them,
taking into account the practice of foreign
countries. However, ensuring the effective
participation of NGOs in the activities of the
PC shows the necessity for its regulation by
analogy with the procedure for nominating
candidates for elective positions by political
parties. Indeed, the requirement to provide
the protocol of the highest div of the NGO
on the nomination of its representative in the
PC will comply with democratic norms.
It would be advisable to limit the election
from one legal entity, which is a non-profit
organization,
in
PC
can
only
one
representative, taking into account the
experience of Kazakhstan. This will contribute
to ensuring a balance of interests and making
objective decisions by PC.
Restricting the election of the same person as
a member of only one PC and no more than
two times in a row will also contribute to the
effective organization of activities of PC.
Taking into account the additional waste of
time, finances and other costs, one person will
not be able to actively and effectively
participate in the activities of several PC.
In order to attract active citizens, an
announcement of a competition for the
formation of PC is required. In addition,
posting information on the composition and
activities of PC will provide awareness of
citizens and increase their interest in
participating in the activities of PC and the
state div.
Most importantly, it is necessary to increase
the activity of civil society institutions to
improve the formation and activities of the
PC. The Public Chamber seems to become the
leading institution in Uzbekistan.
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