Uzbekistan’s Struggle with Organized Crime and Corruption

The State of Affairs

Uzbekistan has been grappling with organized crime, corruption, and other criminal activities for years. Despite efforts to combat these issues, the country continues to face significant challenges.

Key Challenges

• Corruption: Widespread at all levels of government, including the police, judiciary, and among senior officials.
• Lack of Judicial Independence: The judicial system is not independent, with judges often acting together with prosecutors and the police to produce convictions.
• Law Enforcement: Used to implement corrupt schemes to undermine political and business rivals, and to detain and prosecute business executives as part of their extortion and expropriation mechanisms.

Efforts to Combat Organized Crime and Corruption

Anti-Money Laundering Measures

• Uzbekistan has anti-money laundering (AML) measures in place.
• Despite these efforts, the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing remains high.

Business Environment

• The capacity of the government to ensure that legitimate businesses can operate free from the influence of criminal groups has improved over the past two decades.
• However, there is still a significant amount of red tape that business owners have to navigate.

Victim Protection and Civil Society

Victim Protection

• The state places some focus on treating and caring for victims of organized crime.
• However, non-state actors are more active in this area, and the government requires victims to file a criminal complaint with their community authorities to be eligible for government-provided rehabilitation and protection services.

Civil Society and Social Protection

• Civil society organizations (CSOs) and independent human rights activists have played an active role in recent years.
• They have drawn attention to problems such as government-compelled forced labor among adults and children during the annual cotton harvest.