Uzbek leader calls for more women in politics in his congratulatory message

March 07, 2007

In a Women's Day [8 March] congratulatory message President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov has said that he regrets there are fewer women engaged in politics than expected.

President I.Karimov also said that the country needed women's "decent representation" as a condition for taking a significant step towards a democratic state.

Uzbek President said: "In connection with this wonderful holiday, we have one more opportunity to praise and glorify woman, an incomparable wonder created by God, to express the kindest and sincerest feelings to her and to stress her irreplaceable role in the life of the country and society."

"We all know well that from the first days of gaining independence, respect and attention to women, raising their role and status in society, and ensuring their legal rights and interests have become one of the priorities of our country's state policy," Uzbek head said.

Uzbek leader noted: "Practical evidence of this policy is large-scale work being carried out to create and improve the necessary legal basis, to foster women's social and political activeness, to increase their physical, spiritual and intellectual potential, to strengthen their health and social protection, and to protect family, motherhood and childhood, as well as to provide employment and support businesswomen."

"At the same time, we should stress the need for the unconditional implementation of measures stipulated in the state programme which was adopted in connection with declaring the year of 2007 in our country the Year of Social Protection. The programme is aimed, above all, at strengthening the family, which is our society's firm foundation and prop, providing it with all possible material and moral support, improving its well-being and creating decent conditions for our women," President Karimov said.

He said many things still have to be done in order to ensure really equitable and active participation of women in the work of all branches of power - legislative, executive and judicial - in a new society, which is built now.

"In this regard, I thinks it is appropriate to cite this example. At the president's initiative, the country's existing law on elections has a clause on allocating at least a 30-per-cent quota for women from the total number of the candidates for deputies nominated by each political party to the Oliy Majis [parliament] and local representative bodies," Karimov said.

However, regrettably it should be stated that despite this, at present the number of women in local representative bodies makes only 16%, in the Legislative Chamber [lower house] 17.5% and in the Senate [upper house] 15%, Uzbek leader said.

"Of course, we all understand well that citizens themselves elect deputies of all levels. But, at the same time, one should not forget that women's active participation in elections and their gaining the necessary number of places in the legislative and local representative bodies, in many respects, depend on our people and their political and legal culture."

Uzbek president said: "The experience of developed democratic countries, above all, European states with high living standards they have achieved, and our own accumulated experience show that only by ensuring women's decent representation in the legislative, executive and judicial bodies and making this norm compulsory in our social life, I am confident that we will be able to take a significant step on the path of fair resolution of problems we are facing, and building a legal and democratic state and civil society."