a-6035 (ACC-UZB-6035)
In response to your above request we can provide you with the following information:
The law on registration of Uzbek citizens at their places of residence contains the following regulations:
Registration at the place of permanent residence:
- of citizens holding a passport; registration is based on details given in the passport;
- of underage children (under 16); registration is based on the birth certificate;
- of military staff, registration is based on certificates issued by the military;
- of foreigners or stateless people; registration is based either on details given in their passports or residence permits in the Republic of Uzbekistan.
Citizens, who move to a new place for a temporary stay longer than six months, have to secure temporary registration. For a temporary stay shorter than six months a temporary registration in the prescribed manner is mandatory; passports do not get visaed.
Citizens who change their place of residence or move to another place for more than six months (except for business trips, holidays, for visits of the summerhouse and medical treatment) have to de-register before leaving.
After arrival, the citizens have to apply for registration within three days.
In towns and villages the following persons have to be registered:
- spouses at the place of residence of their spouse;
- minors and persons under care at the place of residence of their parents or foster parents;
- adult, unmarried children at their parents’ place of residence;
- parents at the place of residence of their children;
- minor brothers and sisters without parents or incapable of work at the place of residence of their brothers and sisters;
- persons who have lived at the respective place before and had left e.g. to find work abroad, as well as citizens for whom legislation holds the right to a certain accommodation, at their former place of residence or with their relatives.
In the border zone the choice of the place of residence is restricted for Uzbek and other citizens. Persons without the permission to register in the restricted zones are not allowed to work there. The temporary stay in these zones is assigned by the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan.
The registration can be invalidated by a court decision or automatically becomes invalid if the registration has been feigned or if the documents it is based on contain false infomation.
Citizens are held accountable by law in Uzbekistan:
- for having residence without having a passport or without being registered or for spoiling or misusing the passport;
- for tolerating people residing in one’s place of residence without passport or registration;
- for employing people without passports or registration;
- for illegal confiscation of a passport or taking it as a deposit;
- for offending the law of entry into the border zone or residence in the border zone.
[Russisches Zitat entfernt] (Pravo.uz, no date)
“d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons
The constitution and law provide for free movement within the country and across its borders, although the government severely limited this right in practice. Permission from local authorities is required to move to a new city. The government rarely granted permission to move to Tashkent, and local observers reported that persons had to pay bribes of up to $80 (100,000 soum) to obtain registration documents required to move.
The government required citizens to obtain exit visas for foreign travel or emigration, and while it generally granted these, local officials often demanded a small bribe. In 2005 the government introduced a registration system requiring citizens to obtain a special stamp from local authorities in their place of residence to leave the country. Citizens continued generally to be able to travel to neighboring states, and the new stamp requirement was not uniformly enforced. Land travel to Afghanistan, however, remained difficult, as the government maintained travel restrictions on large parts of Surkhandarya Province bordering Afghanistan, including the border city of Termez. Citizens needed permission from the NSS to cross the border, while Afghans did not need permission, aside from a visa, to enter the country to trade.
In January authorities reportedly seized the passport of Akhmadjon Madmarov, a human rights activist who was planning to travel to a conference in Turkey. A few days before, an unknown attacker beat and robbed activist Salima Kadirova, taking her passport and airline ticket.
From March through year's end, authorities refused to renew the passport of Birlik opposition party leader and citizen Pulat Akhunov, who permanently resides in Sweden. Akhunov traveled to Andijon to apply for a new passport, as regulations require citizens to renew their passports at 25 and 45 years of age. Authorities reportedly delayed renewing the passport without offering an explanation, rendering Akhunov unable to return to Sweden.
In May authorities denied an exit visa for the second time to journalist Alo Khojayev, former editor in chief of the news site Tribune.uz. In May 2006 authorities denied an exit visit to Khojayev and another journalist, Alisher Taksanov. Khojayev closed down the Tribune.uz Web site after his wife became the victim of a hit-and-run accident in July 2006, shortly after he received a warning to shut down his Web site.
Foreigners with valid visas generally could move within the country without restriction; however, visitors required special permission to travel to Surkhandarya Province, which borders Afghanistan.
The law does not explicitly prohibit forced exile, but the government did not generally employ it. At year's end several opposition political figures and human rights activists remained in voluntary exile.
Emigration and repatriation were restricted in that the law does not provide for dual citizenship. In practice returning citizens had to prove to authorities that they did not acquire foreign citizenship while abroad, or face prosecution. In practice citizens often possessed dual citizenship and traveled without issue. In some cases individuals who had previously emigrated and/or acquired foreign citizenship while abroad and who were traveling in former Soviet countries that enforced the Uzbek exit permission regime experienced difficulty departing those countries.” (USDOS, 11 March 2008)
“The government severely limits freedom of movement and residence within the country and across borders. Restrictions on foreign travel include the use of exit visas, which are often issued selectively. Permission is required from local authorities to move to a new city, and the authorities rarely grant permission to those wishing to move to Tashkent. Bribes are often paid to obtain the necessary registration documents.” (FH, June 2007)
“Citing a desire to prevent possible terror attacks, the mayor of Tashkent ordered city residents without official residence permits to be dismissed from their jobs and expelled from the Uzbek capital. Since the order took effect, thousands of people have been forced out of the capital, including hundreds of highly trained specialists, sources within the mayor’s office and the Tashkent police tell EurasiaNet.
Mayor Rustam Shoabdurakhmanov issued order number P-043 on July 25, less than a week before the July 30 bomb attacks on the Israeli and US embassies, along with the Uzbek Prosecutor General’s office, that left five people dead, the sources say. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. News of the ruling was kept under wraps, with the order’s contents passed on verbally to the rank-and-file members of the police and makhallas, or government-controlled neighborhood councils. Tashkent’s Department of Internal Affairs later used this ruling as the basis for a "chistka," or clean-up operation, that began several days after the July bomb blasts and targeted residents without official residency permits, or propiskas.
So far, more than 3,700 people have been expelled under the order, according to Tashkent police and government sources. Roughly 1,300 people, including highly qualified physicians, zoologists, teachers, and specialists in other fields, are said to have lost their jobs because of the ruling. That number is expected to increase in the coming months. Though the city counts some 2.5 million registered residents, Tashkent’s actual population is believed to be upwards of 3.5 million people.
To justify the order, government officials like Batyr Alimukhamedov, deputy minister of labor and social welfare, cite the capital city’s "special status" and the need to guard against terrorist attacks carried out by Islamic radicals. Militants have struck Tashkent twice this year, leaving scores dead. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive].
The propiska system is a holdover from the Soviet era. Residency permits were introduced by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin as a way to control labor migration, specifically to stem the rapid influx of peasants into cities. The system has long been assailed in the West as a human rights violation. On October 7, US Ambassador Larry Napper, the head of the American delegation to the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw, condemned the propiska system, saying it "can . . . lead to corruption and abuse."
Rural Uzbeks who come to Tashkent in search of work often pay a significant portion of their earnings in bribes to the police and various government officials to be allowed to live in the capital. Temporary residence permits can be purchased for $40-$70. A permanent propiska for Tashkent requires greater resources, anywhere from $300 to $1,000, or roughly 25 to 75 percent of an Uzbek’s average annual income.
Uzbek labor law dictates that a minimum two-month salary be paid in cases of job termination, but no payment is known to have been made to employees dismissed under the mayor’s order. Those who have lost their jobs hold out little hope of obtaining assistance from Uzbekistan’s judicial system. "The court will not work," said Odil and Saida, a married couple who asked that only their first names be used. "Everything is against you if you do not have the propiska. The courts work hand in hand with the government and the police."
"If we sue, we will lose even the remainders of what we have," said another resident who preferred to remain anonymous. "It will not work, unless we unite and turn to a trade union for help …" But so far, the National Council of Trade Unions of Uzbekistan shows little inclination to address the issue. Contacted for comment on the mayor’s ruling and the non-payment of severance wages, a council representative responded that "it is an internal issue of the employers; no labor laws were violated."
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to ACCORD within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please read in full all documents referred to.
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