by Patrik Olsson, from Lund University
Arriving at 04.10 am to Tashkent on a cold morning October 16, the mission was plentiful but first and foremost to participate in an international conference with nationwide broadcasted discussions in relation to past- and ongoing legal reforms and the democratic development in Uzbekistan. The international conference that I participated in on “Development of Free Civil Society and Non-Governmental Non-Profit Organizations” was held in Tashkent on October 18 and 24, 2024, as part of International Cooperation Initiative Week. Foreign and domestic experts, state bodies, non-governmental and non-commercial organizations, scientific representatives, and political party activists all attended the conference. At the conference, Uzbekistan’s reforms in the way of democratic development, in particular, fundamental changes in the field of civil society, the country’s achievements in terms of openness and transparency were brought to the attention of the world community. Original source: https://strategy.uz/index.php?news=1981
My participation was made possible on an invitation from the Development Strategy Centre and moreover very well managed by TSUL and the Ministry of Justice in Uzbekistan. During the intense and interesting visit to Tashkent I was involved in numerous meetings and presentations with professionals, policy makers, authorities, think tanks, INGOs, CSOs, organizations and students ranging from Universities like TSUL, NUU and the Law Enforcement Academy and representative from the GPO. Due to the kindness and eagerness of assisting foreign colleagues I was also able to collect relevant research material for upcoming articles and projects while also participating in TV-interviews regarding the then forthcoming elections for the Uzbek Parliament, October 27 in 2024, that was both nationally broadcasted and on CNN.
A common denominator in all discussions, presentations and meetings was the progress of anti-corruption- and rule of law work and the various mechanisms attached to this area. Uzbekistan is rapidly changing form in terms of living quality, infrastructure, transparency, modernization, the political landscape and openness to mention some aspects concerning the daily life for Uzbeks. The Law Enforcement Academy with its director Evgeniy Kolenko has invested in new state-of-the-art facilities becoming and technological know-how, which will most likely make the Law Enforcement Academy an important hub for training prosecutors in Central Asia and the region.
