A/HRC/39/7 Introduction 1. The Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, established in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 5/1, held its thirtieth session from 7 to 18 May 2018. The review of Uzbekistan was held at the 5th meeting, on 9 May 2018. The delegation of Uzbekistan was headed by the Chairman of the Committee of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis (Parliament) on Democratic Institutions, NGOs and citizens’ selfgovernment bodies, Akmal Saidov. At its 10th meeting, held on 11 May 2018, the Working Group adopted the report on Uzbekistan. 2. On 10 January 2018, the Human Rights Council selected the following group of rapporteurs (troika) to facilitate the review of Uzbekistan: Côte d’Ivoire, Saudi Arabia and Slovakia. 3. In accordance with paragraph 15 of the annex to Human Rights Council resolution 5/1 and paragraph 5 of the annex to Council resolution 16/21, the following documents were issued for the review of Uzbekistan: (a) A national report submitted/written presentation made in accordance with paragraph 15 (a) (A/HRC/WG.6/30/UZB/1); (b) A compilation prepared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in accordance with paragraph 15 (b) (A/HRC/WG.6/30/UZB/2); (c) A summary prepared by OHCHR in accordance with paragraph 15 (c) (A/HRC/WG.6/30/UZB/3). 4. A list of questions prepared in advance by Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Liechtenstein, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was transmitted to Uzbekistan through the troika. These questions are available on the website of the universal periodic review. I. Summary of the proceedings of the review process A. Presentation by the State under review 5. The delegation of Uzbekistan stated that the first ever parliamentary report on the situation of human rights in the country had been published, a broad administrative reform was being implemented, the Office of the Business Ombudsman had been set up, and that, in 2017, Uzbekistan had observed the Year of Dialogue with the People and of Human Interests. 6. Other key steps taken included legislation on overseeing the actions of members of the Government, adopted by Parliament in 2017. Uzbek civil society was developing actively. For the Government, the opinion of every citizen mattered, and citizens had various tools for direct communication. All those measures were in line with the action strategy on five priority areas of development in Uzbekistan for 2017–2021. 7. Uzbekistan had been one of the first Central Asian countries to establish a national human rights institution. Human rights education efforts were continuous, with courses taught in all school classes and at university. 8. Efforts to ensure a genuinely independent judiciary required constitutional reform. The commission for the election of judges under the President’s authority had been dissolved and a supreme judicial council had been established as the highest judicial body, and granted constitutional status. The new body was tasked with selecting judges and overseeing the constitutional principle of the independence of the judiciary. Judges henceforth served for life; judges retired at the age of 65, while Supreme Court justices retired at 70. Material and technical support for courts had been transferred from the Ministry of Justice to the Supreme Court itself. An example of progress was the fact that, in 2