While by no means revolutionary, end-of-the-year address by #Uzbekistan's President #Mirziyoyev contained several policy revelations that are newsworthy #humanrights developments, showing that continued pressure from #civilsociety #internationalcommunity still makes an impact (1)

On prison reform: #Mirziyoyev announces govt plans to gradually close 25 open-air prison colony settlements-typically used as a lighter form of punishment near the end of prisoners' sentences-and shift to parole and probation, reducing prison population by approx. 6000 ppl (2)

For those actively following issue of advocacy 4 current/former pol. prisoners, #Mirziyoyev announces creation of a "Humanitarian Commission," which appears to expand the powers of the presidential comm'n on pardons, & *perhaps* may be addtl tool to free wrongfully convicted (3)

More importantly, in nod @un_uzbekistan & NGOs #Mirziyoyev states that Ombudsman for #HumanRights will have expanded powers-presumably allowing 4 more intervention in arbitrary detention-& mentions that Omb. shd monitor prisons every 3 mos w/ civ society. (4)

As to this last point, w/out involvement of *independent* civil society in prison monitoring, increased access for Ombudsman for #HumanRights will have little practical effect. What is impt is to end restrictions on civil society-registration & operation of new organizations (5)

Also encouraging Pres. specifically emphasized that *torture* remains a serious problem in police custody & prisons-no doubt reflecting the Abdukarimov torture death in 2020 & continuing cases. UN Torture Committee said late last yr torture in #Uzb remains "routine." (6)

On freedom of speech #Uzbekistan's image recently has taken a serious beating after govt regulator threatened several media outlets of "serious legal consequences" for their critical coverage of energy shortages & Covid-19 death figures. Prez. addressed this debacle ... (7)

in that he acknowledged that work of the Agency of Mass Information & Communication should be "critically re-examined." Reading between the lines, this appeared to be a high-level mea culpa in response to the diplomatic backlash that came following govt. pressure on the media (8)

Again, while laudable, this is unlikely to change fundamental problem journos & critical voices in #Uzbekistan face, unless the power of the #securityservices is much reduced, political competition is introduced, & the pres. makes himself accountable by holding press confs (9)

President here made reference to important work played by NGOs in resolving social ills, providing services, asked Parliament to support more. But more impt what he did not say-that Justice Ministry & sec. services are still preventing registration of critical organizations. (10)

On statelessness, pres. announced that anyone who has continuously resided in #Uzb since 2005 will automatically be able to obtain citizenship, leading to 20,000 stateless persons being able to legalize status. Not clear this reform goes far enough but impt to acknowledge (11)

Mirziyoyev's predecessor, Islam Karimov, created epidemic of statelessness over quarter century of rule, leading to thousands of ppl, often from ethnic min. groups, incl. ethnic Tajiks, Kyrgyz, Meskhetian Turks from having their legitimate citizenship rights recognized (12).

Another area of great interest: #Mirziyoyev's re-election bid & the December 2021 Presidential elections. On this point, #Mirziyoyev's reported remarks are again quite general, but he stresses that elections shld be conducted in line w/ "international, democratic principles" (13)

Does this mean govt will allow genuinely competitive elections & registration of indep. pol. parties, independent candidates for prez? Most certainly not. But that it is mentioned shows #Mirziyoyev realizes @osce_odihr criticism matters to #Uzbekistan's reformist credentials (14)