Awareness raising and educational activity

Activities aimed at raising legal awareness of general public in the area of human rights and freedoms, as well as methods of their protection play a significant role in the overall work of Ombudsman. Awareness raising and educational activity of the Authorized Person (Ombudsman) lies in gathering, preparation and dissemination of background information and analytical materials on human rights, public speeches in mass media, raising educational level of different groups of population in the field of international and national human rights standards, as well as in holding international, national seminars, conferences on different aspects of ensuring human rights and freedoms.

Human rights education is an important instrument in building democratic state; it secures adequate exercise of human rights and freedoms. Legal education is a necessary condition for development of individual and civil legal awareness, which serves as prevention mechanism against commitment of human rights violations.

Awareness raising and educational activities of Ombudsman have its own peculiarities and specifics. It is aimed not only at informing a large circle of general public of their rights, but also at familiarizing them with the activities of Ombudsman in the area of human rights protection, clarifying its place and role in the system of human rights protection. The Authorized Person (Ombudsman), its staff and the members of the Commission for Observance of Constitutional Human Rights and Freedoms take active part in the activities targeted at increasing legal awareness of general public, in implementation of the National Program for improvement of legal awareness in society.

For these purposes, meetings and discussions with general public are organized; presentations and speeches are made at international and national conferences; relevant thematic columns are created in mass media. Citizens are explained of those remedies that are available to them, including administrative, judicial and other bodies that they can address to obtain legal advice.

Ombudsman’s Secretarial Office undertakes preparation, publication and complimentary distribution of educational materials on human rights, forms and methods of their protection. Annual Activity Reports of Ombudsman, published by its Secretarial Office, as well as other informational and educational materials are regularly sent to bodies of central government, local authorities, higher educational institutions, non-governmental organizations, and mass media outlets.

During the past period the Institute of Ombudsman has published a number of methodological guides and other materials on human rights issues, including several thematic compilations (“World Ombudsmen”, “Human Rights Protection in Uzbekistan”, “Ombudsman in Uzbekistan”, “Human Rights Monitoring”), brochures (“Ombudsman of the Republic of Uzbekistan”, “Comments on the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the Authorized Person of the Oliy Majlis for human rights (Ombudsman)”, “Comments on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”) that were distributed on a complimentary basis among various state bodies, educational institutions, non-governmental organization, and libraries. Since 2005 the Parliamentary Ombudsman is a co-founder of “Democratization and human rights” magazine.

The Institute of Ombudsman held a series of conferences and seminars, workshops and trainings on human rights issues at international and national levels. A series of seminars on activities of the Institute of Ombudsman in the area of human rights protection, on the issues of democratization and liberalization of all aspects of public and social life were held in all regions of the Republic.

With the assistance and support of the Authorized Person of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan for human rights (Ombudsman) the public institutions of University Ombudsmen were established in the Tashkent Agrarian University, National University of Uzbekistan, Samarkand State University and Samarkand Medical Institute. In 2007 the Agreement on Cooperation was concluded with the University of World Economy and Diplomacy.