Uzbekistan Celebrates 16th Constitution Day
Uzbek Ambassador Vitali Fen contributed the following article on the occasion of the 16th anniversary of Uzbekistan's Constitution Day, which is today. ― ED.
It is my pleasure to address the esteemed readers of The Korea Times on the occasion of the 16th anniversary of the Constitution Day of Uzbekistan.
The Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan as a product of fruitful and laborious work of the constitutional commission headed by President Islam Karimov, was approved on Dec. 8, 1992.
It leans on the advanced ideas of constitutional construction, democratic principles and the historic experience of the development of Uzbek statehood. The basic law of Uzbekistan has been given high esteem by international organizations and advanced democracies of the world.
The Constitution determines the basic directions of the sociopolitical development of Uzbekistan. It stipulates that the human being, his life, freedom, honor, dignity and other inalienable rights are the most supreme value, and based on this postulate, the legal regulation of mutual relations between citizens, society and state are fixed.
The basic law emphasize the state's adherence to human rights and principles of state sovereignty, its responsibility before present and the future generations, the value of the historical experience of development of national statehood, a priority of internationally recognized legal principles, aspiration to maintain a worthy lives for citizens of the country, national consent and civil accord and the construction of a humane, democratic and lawful state.
The main essence of the Constitution is made with recognition that people are unique sources of state power, and the state, in turn, while expressing the will of people, serves their interests as reflected in each clause of the basic law.
In the last 16 years since the Constitution was adopted, it has formed a legal basis for the maintenance of spiritual and sociopolitical progress of the country, its economic development, a worthy and stable life for each citizen of the country and multinational Uzbek society as a whole.
The Constitution determines a complete system of principles of democratic constitution building, such as democracy, division of branches of power, state sovereignty, supremacy of the Constitution and the law, political pluralism, a variety of forms of economic activity, social character of the state and the full integration of Uzbekistan into the world community.
It is noteworthy that comprehensive reforms are carried out on a consecutive, stage-by-stage basis in the country.
Within the past few years, the principle of the division of legislative, executive and judicial power as fixed in the basic law was further improved.
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In particular, the constitutional law on the formation of a two-chamber parliament has been accepted and the advanced system of legislative activity was created. Tasks and proxies of both chambers of Oliy Majlis (parliament) ― the Senate and legislative chamber ― in the sphere of the state government, has been legislatively determined. Lawmaking, holding debates, passing laws and their enforcement have been advanced as well.
The year 2008 is marked by an independent Uzbekistan by significant steps in the fields of maintenance of human rights and democratization in the judicial and legal spheres. Since the beginning of this year, two laws, adopted under the initiative of President Karimov, on the abolition of the death penalty and transferring the right of issuing the sanction on arrest to courts, have come into force.
Further evidence that large-scale reforms in Uzbekistan are carried out in favor of the people was the decree of President Karimov dated on May 1 on the program of actions devoted to the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.