The Senate passed the bill Friday on mandatory HIV-testing for citizens of Uzbekistan after an over than 90-day stay abroad and for foreign nationals and stateless persons who hold residence permit and those arrivinh on work permit.

Senator Gulnora Marufova stated that in recent years, the number of fellow countrymen returning from abroad, as well as foreign nationals landing had been increasing - both for work and for other reasons. The results of voluntary medical test found that the number of incidents of dangerous infectious diseases detected is rising.

In 2024, 434 thousand out of 1.7 million Uzbeks who returned from abroad underwent voluntary HIV testing, and 1,512 of them were tested positive. While, in 81 out of more than 12.7 thousand foreign nationals and stateless persons examined were tested positive for HIV.

According to her, HIV cases among migrants have increased by 23.7%. testing of 903 spouses of migrants, 262 people were tested positive for HIV infection.

51,087 people are HIV-positive in Uzbekistan as of July 1, 2025. According to Gulnora Marufova, the he ratio of HIV infections attributed to parenteral transmission, specifically through blood and blood products, has significantly decreased, while the number of sexually transmitted cases is growing. According to her, 64.7% of new cases of infection were recorded due to this reason.

In this regard, the bill provides for mandatory HIV testing for citizens of Uzbekistan aged  between 18 to 60 years who have been abroad for more than 90 days, as well as foreign nationals and stateless persons permanently residing or arriving in Uzbekistan for work. The 90-day period is due to the incubation period of infectious diseases.

Citizens of Uzbekistan and stateless persons residing in the country will undergo examination at the expense of the state budget. Foreigners - at their own expense, at the expense of the employer or other sources not prohibited by law.

It is also established that the detection of HIV or tuberculosis will be grounds for denial of a work permit in the country.

In addition, one of the conditions for issuing a license to private employment agencies will be the obligation to set up training for job seekers abroad in accordance with the laws and regulations of the country of their intended stay.

Gulnora Marufova added that the experience of Russia, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and South Korea had been studied.

Senator Zhamilya Bobanazarova gave a question on how mandatory HIV testing will be organized.

In response, Deputy Director of the Republican Center for Combating AIDS Bakhrom Umarov noted that the procedure for undergoing testing would be determined by a separate resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers.

According to him, based on the data of the State Center for Personalization on the citizen's crossing of the state border, a medical worker and a prevention inspector assigned to the relevant region will conduct a preventive conversation with his family on the same day and notify the citizen himself of the need to undergo HIV testing within three days.

Senators approved the bill unanimously.

It should be noted that the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) do not support the practice of mandatory or forced HIV testing in the interests of public health.

MP Nodirbek Tilavoldiev previously stated that the bill on HIV testing after 90 days abroad violates human rights, including the right to equality, non-discrimination and the right to life.

He added that Uzbekistan had ratified almost all key international conventions on human rights, and the adoption of the new law may contradict them.

“Secondly, there is a special UN structure to combat AIDS — UNAIDS. You yourself pointed to it in your explanatory letters. The World Health Organization, the International Labor Organization — they are all against mandatory HIV testing. They do not recommend it. On the contrary, these organizations say that any HIV test should be conducted on a voluntary basis, only with the consent and with a guarantee of confidentiality,” he recalled.

The parliamentarian also noted that there was no global practice of obligatory testing of its own citizens returning from abroad.

"There is not a single country in the world that requires its citizens returning from abroad to undergo such a test. You can check it yourself on the Internet, you have probably seen foreign practice yourself. Only for migrants entering the country, in some countries there is such a check. But to oblige their own citizens to undergo such a test and enshrine it in law - this is not possible anywhere. If we adopt this bill, Uzbekistan will become the first country in the world to forcibly oblige its citizens to undergo testing," he said.

Deputy Director of the Migration Agency under the Cabinet of Ministers Matlab Kuranov, who presented the bill in the Legislative Chamber, stated that under Article 21 of the Constitution of Uzbekistan, "human rights and freedoms can be limited only in accordance with the law and only to the extent necessary to protect the constitutional order, public health, public morality, the rights and freedoms of others, and ensure public safety and public order."

In response to the MP's comments on precedents in other countries, he cited examples of international practice:

"If we talk about your main question - about foreign experience - we have studied world practice. In Kazakhstan, citizens who have been abroad for more than three months are required to undergo testing for tuberculosis. In this country, tuberculosis is included in the list of especially dangerous diseases, and the Ministry of Health establishes a mandatory procedure for testing for returning citizens. In Russia, citizens who have been abroad for more than six months are also required to undergo a medical examination. These examinations are carried out to prevent tuberculosis and other infectious diseases," he said.

"In Taiwan, when staying abroad for more than three months, mandatory testing for HIV and tuberculosis is provided. We have studied similar examples in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Egypt and a number of other countries," the agency official claimed.