Human Rights from the bottom-up in Uzbekistan by Dilfuza Kurolova

Located at the heart of Central Asia, Uzbekistan has followed a long path of legal, political, and human rights development and change. Uzbekistan was known for its strict regulation over civic engagement from the bottom-up after its independence in 1991, until a major political shift in 2016 that embarked the country on a new journey.

Today, Uzbekistan is one of the champions of change within the region, especially in the field of human rights and civil society development, and became the 5th country in CIS-Caucasus which criminalised domestic violence in April 2023. In spite of that, human rights activists and defenders still face challenges with limited opportunity to make real impact. This seminar will explore how small steps at the bottom can impact change at the top.

Speaker:
Dilfuza Kurolova (2023 AsiaGlobal Fellow) is a human rights lawyer and professional mediator from Uzbekistan. Her current research at the Asia Global Institute involves civic engagement tools in Central Asia and beyond for promoting human rights. Back in her country, she works as a consultant at the World Bank and the International Commission of Jurists. Dilfuza is one of the members of the working group under the Senate of the country, which adopted the law criminalising domestic violence in Uzbekistan in 2023. She has provided free legal advice services to members of the public and engaged in drafting shadow reports to the UN Treaty Bodies since 2019.

Dilfuza obtained her LLM from the Tashkent State University of Law and her MA in Politics and Security from the OSCE Academy in Bishkek. She is founder of the WEF Global Shapers Tashkent Hub.

Chair:
Kelley Loper
Associate Professor and Director, LLM in Human Rights Programme, Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong

Co-organisers:
Asia Global Institute at HKU
Centre for Comparative and Public Law at HKU
HKU LL.M in Human Rights Programme