On 5-6 March 2024, the Council of Europe in co-operation with the National Human Rights Centre of the Republic of Uzbekistan organised a seminar on “Rights of persons with disabilities: international standards and national practice” in Tashkent. The seminar was attended by 35  civil servants  and representatives of civil society organisations dealing with the rights of persons with disabilities in Uzbekistan.

It aimed to introduce relevant international standards on the rights of persons with disabilities, sharing good practices, and exploring ways of interagency co-operation and improvement of the quality of life of persons with disabilities in Uzbekistan.

The seminar was opened by Ambassador Charlotte Adriaen, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Uzbekistan, who underlined the necessity of co-operation between civil servants and civil society for the improvement of the rights of persons with disabilities in Uzbekistan, reaffirming EU’s commitment to this. Dilnoza Muratova, Deputy Director of the National Human Rights Centre of the Republic of Uzbekistan, provided an overview of the state of play of the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities in Uzbekistan.

The seminar was practice oriented and involved active participation of attendees in the working groups, interactive exercises and moderated discussions. During the course of the seminar, the participants had the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the concept of disability and relevant key terminology, as well as to improve their knowledge on implementation of the Convention on the Rights of persons with disabilities in Uzbekistan, and inter-agency cooperation at national and cross-border level.

The activity was organised by the action "HELP in Central Asia" in the framework of the Central Asia Rule of Law Programme 2020-2024, a joint initiative co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.