A meeting of the faction of the People’s Democratic Party of Uzbekistan in the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis was held. Members of the faction considered the draft law on introducing amendments to Article 135 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan due to strengthening punishments for human trafficking.

In recent years, large-scale work has been carried out in the country aimed at fundamentally improving the legal framework for combating human trafficking, protecting human rights and freedoms, and protecting legal interests, in particular, state support for victims of human trafficking.

However, crimes related to human trafficking are still being committed.

According to the analysis, 94 criminal cases concerning human trafficking were initiated in 2019, 93 in 2020, 162 in 2021, 165 in 2022, 144 in 2023, and 90 in five months of 2024.

Consequently, today, proportionate sanctions have not been established in matters related to the reliable protection of human rights, freedoms, and legal interests, including the crime of human trafficking.

Also, according to the signs provided for in paragraph “a” of the second part of the article providing for responsibility for human trafficking, i.e., a penalty for committing abduction, using force, or using the threat of force or other forms of coercion does not comply with the sanction of the second part of Article 137 of the current Criminal Code. However, the subjective characteristics of these crimes are close to each other, and the social danger is equal.

In addition, there is no indication of aggravating the crime of human trafficking against a pregnant woman. Accordingly, to eliminate the issues that have arisen in the differentiation of responsibility for human trafficking, it is required to add the paragraph “concerning a pregnant woman” as an aggravating circumstance to part 2.

In addition, in practice, the sanction of the third part of the article provides the penalty of imprisonment from 8 to 12 years. In this regard, there are problems in applying the law regarding whether this part is included in the “serious” or “extremely serious” crime category.

For this reason, changes will be introduced to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan, determining more severe punishments for those who committed these acts.

Deputies expressed their opinions on the draft law and emphasized its importance and the basis for ensuring and protecting human rights and freedoms. Proposals for further improvement of the document were made and conceptually approved in the 1st reading.

At the meeting, the draft law on introducing additions aimed at exemption from payment of state duty based on the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On State Duty” regarding claims arising from compulsory insurance contracts of insured persons, was considered.

In recent years, several institutional measures have been implemented to strengthen the procedure for protecting the rights and legal interests of consumers of insurance services. At the same time, when insurers apply to courts with claims arising from compulsory insurance contracts, collecting state duty from them leads to additional financial costs. In this regard, amendments are being introduced to the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On State Duty” that exempts policyholders from paying state duty on claims arising from compulsory insurance contracts. Considering that this Law creates favorable conditions for protecting the rights and legal interests of consumers of insurance services, it was approved by the deputies.