Uzbekistan’s Unfinished Fight Against Domestic Violence

Last week, a man from Tashkent was sentenced to three years of imprisonment. His crime? Beating his wife and locking her in their basement to prevent her from going to her relative’s wedding.

In Uzbekistan’s southeastern Sukhandaryo region, meanwhile, news surfaced last autumn that a pregnant and speech-impaired woman had been locked in a cattle stable for a prolonged period of time, beaten, starved, and forced to give birth in unsanitary conditions. After the birth, the owners of the home where she was staying took the baby from her. When neighbours reported noise to the police, the woman was rescued along with her child. On January 12, the three perpetrators received lengthy prison sentences from nine to 13 years, whereas another received a custodial sentence.

These cases are undoubtedly extreme, yet they illustrate how deeply entrenched misogyny and violence against women remains in Uzbekistan. If anything has changed, it is that that media now report on cases of domestic violence more frequently than they did before, and public awareness and attention have noticeably increased, too.

Some women’s rights activists link this to certain laws recently having been passed in Uzbekistan. In 2023, domestic violence was finally criminalized, with the introduction of a new article to the country’s Criminal Code (Article 126-1) concerning physical, psychological and economic domestic violence. Activists have also pointed to increased reporting rates and the increased use of protection orders to combat domestic violence as signs of overall progress.

Despite these potential advancements, Uzbekistan’s ongoing and widespread problem of gender-based violence means that further measures are needed to continue improving the position of women in the country.

In a recent report on gender-based violence in Uzbekistan by International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR), we shared recommendations to combat violence against women, and help victims to rebuild their lives.

The report highlights the difficulties that many women face when turning to the police for help and explores obstacles they might face that undermine their ability to seek justice, such as a lack of access to legal assistance or forensic centers to document injuries.

Many cases of domestic violence in Uzbekistan get dismissed due to an alleged “lack of evidence of a crime”, or an absence of witnesses. Psychological violence can also be difficult to document. Anora (name changed), one of our interviewees, experienced this issue when police dismissed her case because of “insufficient evidence,” forcing her to turn to social media to gather support for her case. Worryingly, this is a course of action that sometimes works better than contacting the authorities directly.

Another cause for concern is the emphasis placed by authorities and courts on encouraging victims and perpetrators to reconcile, meaning that around half of all reported cases of domestic violence never reach court.

Societal stigma and shame also contributes to the problem: Experts interviewed for IPHR’s report noted that women who experience domestic violence often refrain from seeking help because of deeply entrenched concepts, such as “family honor.” In many communities, reporting abuse is seen not as exposing a crime, but as bringing disgrace upon one’s family, meaning survivors often remain silent.

Law enforcement officials often also dismiss complaints of violence as “family disputes”, implying that they are private, domestic matters. This can have devastating consequences: Mariam, a victim of violence from Uzbekistan’s eastern city of Syrdarya, whose case we highlighted in our report, took her own life in December 2023 after the police consistently refused to accept her claims of violence, saying that it was a “family dispute”. These harmful practices discourage victims from reporting, prevent them accessing support and protection, and consequently leave many cases of abuse concealed and unaddressed.

Even when women manage to escape from situations of domestic violence, they are often confronted with significant barriers, such as the lack of accessible shelter, continued financial dependence on their husbands or relatives, and limited ability to overcome these issues. All too often, this forces them to return to their abuser or unsafe environments.

Crisis shelters in Uzbekistan are often overloaded and have to turn away people, but state-run shelters also, as a rule, only allow women to stay for one month and are often overloaded. One month is simply not enough time for a woman to recover, find housing and a stable income. As a result, many women are left with no alternative but to return to their abusers, perpetuating a cycle of violence and impunity.

Beyond criminalizing domestic violence, there is a need to change in the way women are viewed in Uzbek society. Women often are expected to live “a life of servitude and control,” compliant and subservient to the demands of their husbands and in-laws. It is exactly this kind of mindset that fuels gender-based and domestic violence, particularly when women do not live up to such expectations.

As the Uzbekistani activist Anvar Latipov put it: “If boys are taught from a young age that they should treat women equally it will help reduce violence in the future, as well as instill the notion of equality before the law.”

Alva Omarova is a researcher for International Partnership for Human Rights. IPHR is an independent, non-governmental organization founded in 2008. Based in Brussels, IPHR works closely together with civil society groups from different countries to raise human rights concerns at the international level and promote respect for the rights of vulnerable communities. See more at: https://www.iphronline.org/en/