These Guidelines have been developed to help legal aid providers bring the GBV perpetrators to justice within the confines of the national legislation, and to support survivors of GBV throughout the legal process.

The Guidelines focus only on female survivors of GBV as women and girls are most often found at the receiving end of GBV. It is however worth noting that cases of women-on-women violence are not uncommon (especially in multigenerational households where daughters- and sisters-in-law are subjected to various forms of violence at the hands of other females in the household, most notably mothers-in-law). Men and boys can also be survivors of GBV, but such cases are rarely reported. According to the records from the April to October 2023 period, the courts heard a total of 2,008 criminal cases and 5,639 administrative cases. In 2023, 32,733 protection orders were issued to survivors of gender-based violence. Additionally, 2,282 individuals were convicted for failing to comply with the requirements of a protection order, as per Article 206 of the Administrative Code.

These Guidelines are the result of a highly collaborative task involving partners and contributors. In particular, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to the UNDP in Uzbekistan – and in particular the staff working under the Strengthening Rule of Law and Human Rights Protection in Uzbekistan project, and their partner NGOs for their support and assistance in completion of these Guidelines. All the partners have expressed willingness to align the system of addressing GBV with international standards.