The State of the World's Human Rights; Uzbekistan 2025

Freedom of expression remained under threat, with activists and journalists facing politically motivated prosecutions and travel restrictions. Authorities continued to stall reforms addressing impunity for torture and other ill-treatment. Forced evictions and demolitions targeting marginalized communities persisted. LGBTI people faced systemic discrimination and rights violations. Farmers were coerced into cotton production under threat of land loss. Despite environmental pledges, severe air pollution posed serious health risks.

Background

In October, Uzbekistan signed an Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with the EU and hosted the first UNESCO General Conference held outside Paris in more than 40 years. These developments proceeded despite ongoing concerns regarding Uzbekistan’s compliance with international human rights standards.

Freedom of expression

Human rights activists, bloggers and social media commentators continued to face politically motivated prosecutions for reporting on corruption, human rights abuses and other sensitive topics such as the 2022 mass protests in support of Karakalpakstan’s autonomous status. At least 30 individuals, including suspected Karakalpak independence activists, were convicted under Article 244-1(3) of the criminal code for allegedly spreading “separatist” propaganda online.

In July, a court in the Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan convicted Dastan Uzakov of disseminating “separatist” propaganda. He had posted publicly available video clips of Karakalpak editor and lawyer Dauletmurat Tazhimuratov’s 2022 unfair trial on his Instagram account. Dastan Uzakov stated that he had shared the clips to gain “likes” and was unaware he had broken any laws, as the trial had been public and covered by national media. He received a five-year non-custodial sentence, and his mobile phone was confiscated.

In May, a civil court in the capital, Tashkent, fined Abdurakhmon Tashanov, chair of Ezgulik – one of the few registered independent human rights NGOs – over a Facebook post responding to repeated public criticism of his human rights work by two law professors. In a closed trial, the court ruled that his post harmed the academics’ dignity and reputation, ordering him to pay damages, delete the post, issue a public apology and publish a retraction.

Also in May, authorities prevented independent journalist and human rights defender Sharifa Madrakhimova from travelling to Ireland to receive the Front Line Defenders Award by damaging the microchip in her passport, in apparent retaliation for her human rights work.

Torture and other ill-treatment

Authorities continued to delay legal reforms to address impunity for torture and other ill-treatment and to establish genuinely independent mechanisms for monitoring detention conditions. The full report of the parliamentary commission investigating the 2022 violent crackdown of protests in Karakalpakstan – including allegations that detained protesters were tortured – remained unpublished.

In March, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) expressed “grave concern” over credible, unrebutted allegations of mass detentions and excessive force against Karakalpaks and opponents of constitutional amendments, highlighting discrimination based on ethnicity and political opinion. Authorities continued to ignore calls for an independent international investigation.

The WGAD also raised serious concerns about credible reports of torture and other ill-treatment of Dauletmurat Tazhimuratov, who had been sentenced to 16 years’ imprisonment after an unfair trial for allegedly conspiring to incite violence during the protests in Karakalpakstan. In April, he was reportedly beaten unconscious by other inmates for refusing to sing the national anthem. Despite repeated complaints addressed to her office, the Ombudsperson failed to meet him during a prison inspection that month. In May, his lawyer reported that he continued to be beaten by fellow inmates – allegedly at the direction of prison authorities – and had been placed in solitary confinement. The authorities denied all allegations of violations in a June reply to UN experts.

Right to housing

In March, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing expressed concern over widespread forced evictions, demolitions and expropriations, following his August 2024 visit. His report cited a lack of public consultation, ineffective judicial remedies and courts favouring developers. He also warned of ongoing intimidation, prosecution and detention of affected individuals, housing rights defenders and journalists.

In June, three UN special rapporteurs expressed their concern to the government about forced evictions and demolitions in Samarkand’s UNESCO World Heritage neighbourhoods, home to Multoni (Mughat) and ethnic Tajik minorities. They noted that the urban redevelopment had proceeded in violation of World Heritage Committee conditions, without social impact assessments or human rights due diligence. Marginalized and often illiterate residents were not consulted; many were coerced by police and local officials into signing expropriation agreements they did not understand and accepting inadequate compensation. The authorities had not responded to these concerns by year’s end.

LGBTI people’s rights

LGBTI people continued to face serious human rights abuses by both law enforcement and private individuals, including intimidation, physical violence, online defamation and arbitrary detention on fabricated charges. Authorities maintained their refusal to decriminalize consensual same-sex relations between men and rejected the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity in anti-discrimination laws, citing “traditional family values”.

Cuts to US foreign assistance led to the suspension of human rights programmes addressing stigma and discrimination, undermining the rights of LGBTI people and those living with HIV. Civil society organizations working on HIV-related legal reforms, anti-discrimination and access to healthcare faced increasing obstacles in advocating for policy change and human rights protections.

Workers’ rights

A May report by the Cotton Campaign warned that, despite the ending of systemic forced labour, the state continued to impose production targets and crop mandates on small-scale farmers, forcing them to grow cotton or grain under threat of losing land or having crops destroyed. In July, leaked audio revealed a senior presidential adviser threatening local government officials with violence over unmet quotas.

Right to a healthy environment

As EU-Central Asia economic and environmental cooperation strengthened, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev declared 2025 as the year of “Environmental Protection and Green Economy,” aiming for 55% of new industrial and infrastructure projects to be “green” by 2030. A national strategy to reduce black carbon was adopted, and new laws introduced fines for construction-related air pollution. Despite these efforts, air pollution remained severe. The Ministry of Ecology recorded nearly 300 serious violations of these new laws in the first eight months of the year. In November, soon after Tashkent was again ranked among the most polluted cities in the world, the president signed a decree on urgent response measures.