President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, during his recent visit to the United States, proposed to hold the Asian Forum on Human Rights in Samarkand, the director of the National Center for Human Rights Akmal Saidov said at the meeting of the International Press Club on Friday.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev at a meeting with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein proposed to hold the forum on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which will be celebrated in 2018.
"Uzbekistan is no longer on the defensive stance - before, we only kept being criticized, and we were giving answers. Now Uzbekistan is coming out with initiatives not only on the national, but also on global scale," Akmal Saidov said.
He also said that the President proposed to open an office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Uzbekistan in order to provide "the most direct communication, and not via Bishkek" (the regional HCHR office is located in Bishkek).
According to Akmal Saidov, this shows that Uzbekistan is becoming an "open, equal, constructive country which is ready to discusses all, even the most sensitive human rights issues "
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for the first time visited Uzbekistan in May this year, with a visit of the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief Ahmed Shahid scheduled in the end of September.
