Theme 2.

Creation of Legal Basis of Uzbekistan's Independence and Adoption of Constitution of

Outline:

1. Formal Dissolution of the USSR

On December 8, 1991, the heads of three of the four republics, the founders of the USSR - Belarus,
Russia and Ukraine - gathered in the Belovezhskaya Pusha (village Viskulish’, Belarus), and stated that
the USSR ceased to exist, declared the impossibility of the formation of the USS (Union of Sovereign
States) and signed the Agreement on the Establishment of Commonwealth of Independent States. The
agreement is also well-known by the name the Belavezha Accords.

On December 21, 1991 at the meeting of presidents in Alma-Ata (Kazakhstan) to the CIS joined eight
more republics: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan and were signed the Alma-Ata Declaration and the protocol to the Belavezha Accords on
the creation of the CIS.

Membership in this organization was rejected by the Baltic republics, as well as by Georgia. It should
be noted that, Georgia joined the CIS only in October 1993 and announced its withdrawal from the CIS
after the war in South Ossetia in the summer of 2008.

The organs of power of the USSR as a subject of international law ceased to exist on December 25-26,
1991. Russia declared itself the legal successor and the successor state of the USSR. On December 25,
the USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev announced the termination of his activities as president of the
USSR in connection with the formation of the CIS, signed a decree on abdicating the Supreme
Commander of the Soviet Armed Forces and transferred control of strategic nuclear weapons to Russian
President Boris Yeltsin.

On December 26, 1991 is considered the day of the end of the existence of the USSR, although some
institutions and organizations of the USSR (for example, the Control Chamber, the State Bank, the
Ministry of Defense, the State Standard of the USSR, the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the State Border
Protection Committee) still functioned during 1992, and the Committee constitutional supervision of the
USSR and the Inter-republican Economic Committee of the USSR were not officially dissolved.

Based on the Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Statement of State
Independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Uzbekistan
adopted the Law "On the Fundamentals of State Independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan" on 31
August, 1991.

This law consists of 17 articles and according to article one, the Republic of Uzbekistan became ‘an
independent, democratic state along with the Republic of Karakalpakstan’.

The seventh session of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Uzbekistan on September 30, 1991
decided to grant the status of the Constitutional Law to the Law "On the Fundamentals of State
Independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan". The resolution states that the articles of the Constitutional
Law should be remained in force if they contradict even the provisions of current Constitution of the
Republic of Uzbekistan.

It was decided to hold a referendum in Uzbekistan in order to strengthen its independence.

On November 18, 1991, the VIII session of the Supreme Council adopted a resolution on the referendum
of the Republic of Uzbekistan. It was planned to hold the referendum on December 29. The question of
the referendum was "Do you approve the proclamation of the state independence of Uzbekistan by
Supreme Council?"

In the nationwide referendum, 9,889,707 people took part, or 94.1 percent of those included in the
electoral list. 9 million 718 thousand 155 people voted for the declaration of independence of the
Republic of Uzbekistan, or 98.2 percent of those who participated in the referendum.

Neutral observers from the United States, Turkey, Malaysia and other countries participated in the
referendum.

Effective measures have been taken to introduce independent state attributes such as State Flag, National
Emblem and State Anthem of the Republic.

The state flag of Uzbekistan was approved on November 18, 1991 and since then, it is an official national
symbol of the republic. It represents a multicolored rectangular cloth with three horizontal stripes of
blue, white and green. Everything on Uzbek flag is symbolic and reflects the perception of the world of
the Uzbek people and has a connection with their historical and cultural past.

The State Emblem of the Republic of Uzbekistan was approved on July 2, 1992 at the tenth session of
the Supreme Council of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The national emblem of the Republic of Uzbekistan reflects the history, high spirituality, eternal values
and way of life of Uzbek people. Each element, color and sign of the emblem has its own symbolic
meaning.

The law "On National Anthem of the Republic of Uzbekistan" was adopted on the December 10, 1992
at the 11th session of the Supreme Council of Uzbekistan. Poem by A. Aripov and Music by M.
Burkhanov.

One of the attributes of each sovereign state is the existence of its Basic Law - the Constitution.
Constitution (from Latin constitutio - establish, appoint) is the main law of the state, determining its
social and state structure, the procedure and principles for the formation of representative bodies of
power, the electoral system, the basic rights and duties of citizens. The Constitution is the basis of all
current legislation.

In the post-revolutionary years in Turkistan, constitution was developed according to the international
experience. In particular, the constitutions of the Turkestan ASSR in 1918, 1920, the constitution of the
Khorezm and Bukhara People's Republics of 1920-1921 and the constitution of the Uzbek SSR in 1927,
1937, 1978 were the Basic Laws of the Republic. But they were not essentially the Main Law of a true
independent state.

The idea of creating a new constitution is directly related to the adoption of the Declaration of
Independence on 20 June 1990. It was concluded at the second session of the Supreme Council (that
adopted this Declaration) that a new constitution of the state should be drafted. The session approved
the formation of Constitutional Commission under the chair of President I.A.Karimov, that consisted of
64members. It included representatives of parliament, the Republic of Karakalpakstan and regions,
heads of state and public organizations, businesses, farms, prominent jurists, scientists and specialists.

The Constitutional Commission held its first meeting on 12 April 1991. A working group of 32 people,
including members of the Constitutional Commission, leading experts and scientists, was created to
coordinate all the organizational and creative processes associated with the draft constitution. As well
as, six small groups were organized to prepare each parts of the constitution.

The Chair of the Constitutional Commission assigned the following tasks to the working group:

- to study the experience of constitutional development in the world;

- to take into account the achievements of other countries in human rights, democracy and legislation;

- to create political-legal documents that are open to the public.

According to the task, the constitutions of world countries such as US, France, Canada, Germany,
Sweden, Japan, Italy, Spain, Greece, and Turkey were examined. It should also be noted that the views
and ideas of the great ancestors of the Uzbek people on strengthening of statehood were served as a base
for the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan. In particular, Amir Temur's important counsels on
the management of the state that described in his ‘The Code of Timur’ were also taken into
consideration.

The initial version of the project was prepared in October-November 1991. The constitution contained
158 articles divided into six parts. The first project was far from the level of perfection. It needed more
improvement.

In the spring of 1992, the second version of the project was developed with 149 articles. With the
participation of the President of the country, a regular meeting of the Constitutional Commission was
held. The constitution of Uzbekistan should reflect the historical, national and spiritual aspects of the
Uzbek people as much as possible.

The draft of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan was announced and published in mass media
for public discussion on September 26, 1992, following the decision of the Constitutional Commission.

The general vote lasted for three months. It was attended by all elderly people of different nationalities
and ethnicities living in the country. Over 6,000 suggestions and comments were made during the
referendum. Of 60 articles out of 127, corrected and clarified. Four articles were released from the
original version and several new articles were added to the text.
Many of the suggestions and thoughts were related to articles, chapters and parts dedicated to the rights
and duties of citizens, personal immunity, the role and importance of religion in society, economic rights,
including property rights, market relations and the constitutional foundations of law and order.

The meeting of Constitutional Commission on December 7, 1992, the President proposed to include
articles on the equality of men and women, as well as the protection of cultural monuments into the draft
constitution.

Finally, the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan adopted on December 8, 1992 at the eleventh
session of the twelfth convocation of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

PREAMBLE

Part one. Fundamental principles

Part two. Basic human and civil rights, freedoms and duties

Part three. Society and the individual

Part four. Administrative and territorial structure, and state system

Part five. Organization of state authority

Part six. Procedure for altering the constitution

By the results of the national referendum hold on January 27, 2002 and according to the adopted on its
basis Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan of April 24, 2003 introduced alterations and additions into
chapters XVIII, XIX, XX, XXIII of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan. According to the
Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan of April 11, 2007, it was introduced amendments into Article 89,
point 15 of Article 93, part two of Article 102 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
According to the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan of December 25, 2008, it was made alteration into
part one of Aricle 77 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan. According to the Law of the
Republic of Uzbekistan of April 18, 2011, it was introduced alterations into Articles 78, 80, 93, 96 and
98 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan. According to the Law of the Republic of
Uzbekistan of December 12, 2011, an amendment was made to part two of Article 90 of the Constitution
of the Republic of Uzbekistan. According to the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan of April 16, 2014,
it was introduced alterations into Articles 32, 78, 93, 98, 103 and 117 of the Constitution of the Republic
of Uzbekistan.

According to the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan of May 31, 2017 alterations and additions were
made to Articles 80, 81, 83, 93, 107, 110 and 112 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Legislation, national databases dated 16.10.2018, No. 03/18/498/2051; Bulletin of the Chambers of the
Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, 1, 2019, No. 2, Article 47, National Database of Legislation,
06.03.2019, 19/03/527/2706, 05.09.2019 ., 0/563/3685-son; 09.02.2021, 21/03/670/0089, 09.02.2021,
21/03/671/0093.

The new Constitution of Uzbekistan was initially planned to adopt in 2022. Shavkat Mirziyoyev listed
9 reasons for constitutional reforms on December 7, 2021.

First of all, it is necessary to change the principle of "state-society-individual" that was used before to
"individual -society-state" and strengthen it in our national legislation and legal practice.

Secondly, in the process of economic reforms, ensuring human interests should be the main criterion.
This is the most important condition for building a people-friendly state.

Thirdly, within the framework of the noble idea of "Society is the initiator of reforms", constitutional
strengthening of the role and status of civil society institutions in our Basic Law is also a need of the
times.

Fourthly, in our General Assembly, we need to define the constitutional foundations for the development
of the institution of the family, the transmission of our noble human values to future generations, and
the further strengthening of inter-ethnic harmony.

Fifthly, today, when our children are emerging as creators of New Uzbekistan, in order to fully ensure
the rights and interests of young people, the state policy in the field of youth, the issue of all-round
support for our sons and daughters, their rights and duties should be reflected at the constitutional level.

Sixth, now Uzbekistan is boldly moving towards building a social state and a just society. Therefore, I
think it is time to seal the principle of "New Uzbekistan - a social state" as a constitutional provision.
Seventh, in order to increase the effectiveness of the current system for the protection of human rights,
it is necessary to reflect the issues of preventing child labor, reliable protection of the rights of the
disabled and the elderly in our Constitution.

Eighth, currently, many developed countries, taking into account the global changes in nature, include
special chapters on ecology in their constitutions. In the Constitution of Uzbekistan, the legal norms on
this urgent issue should occupy a priority place.

Ninthly, it is desirable to strengthen the issues of development of kindergarten, school, higher education
and science, which are the four integral rings of the Third Renaissance, at the constitutional level.