Uzbekistan Cracks Down on “Anti-Social” Youth

The Uzbek government is attempting to use legislation to improve the behaviour of young people and stop them getting involved in crime. But top-down regulation may not be the most effective way of dealing with crime, especially since the authorities also have another agenda – fending off what they regard as corrosive outside influences.

Under a new law effective since May 18, young people under the age of 8 cannot visit restaurants, cafes, bars, clubs, discos, cinemas or internet cafes at night unless they are accompanied by a parent or another appointed guardian. Owners of premises which break the rules by allowing minors in face fines of up to 355 US dollars.

Akhtam Jumaboev, of the Uzbek parliament’s committee for new legislation, told the state newspaper Narodnoye Slovo that the legislation was designed specifically to reduce youth crime. Most cases of anti-social behaviour occur at night, when young people were out on their own and frequently intoxicated, he said.

On May 24, a joint meeting of members of parliament and government officials discussed proposals to restrict the use of mobile phones by young people, for example in schools and universities.

In Uzbekistan, the most populous country in Central Asia, more than half of the 28 million residents are under 25.

Human rights activists and analysts say crime is undoubtedly a growing problem in Uzbekistan, but believe tougher regulation does not address root causes such as falling living standards. Nor is policing the new rules likely to be effective.

Young people at whom the legislation is aimed said they would ignore the curfew. One said that if he got caught, he would bribe his way out of trouble.

Shukhrat, 16, said he had continued to visit night clubs since the law came into force.

“Only once - last week – a cop caught me when I went outside a club to get some fresh air. I’d had a drink and wasn’t feeling too good,” he said.

Shukhrat initially tried saying that one of his parents was inside. When this did not work, he offered a bribe to the policeman, who went off after warning him not to get caught again.

Another resident of the capital Tashkent, a 17-year-old who gave his name as Oleg, said he was working as a car mechanic and should have a right to go out at night.

“I have my own pocket money, so why can’t I spend it however I want? I don’t get that,” he said.

He went on, “Can you imagine my father’s look of surprise if I ask him to accompany me to a night club?” he said. “How am I supposed to turn up with an escort like that? I’d die of shame.”

A policeman in Tashkent who gave his first name as Azamat said it would be difficult to enforce the law because there were not enough policemen to patrol all the night spots.

Teenagers who turn to crime tend to come from backgrounds of poverty and unemployment, he said. Often their families cannot afford to give them spending money, and there is little chance of them finding a job on their own.

“So they wander around, not knowing what to do, where to go and how to spend their free time,” said Azamat. “Not all children have wealthy parents who can give them enough money to satisfy their needs. So the question arises of how to get hold of money.”

Azamat said he knew of youngsters who went to discos and clubs to prey on their better-off peers. “It isn’t hard for them to target a ‘client’ under cover of darkness and empty his pockets,” he said.

One Tashkent resident who spoke on condition of anonymity said the authorities were wrong to make scapegoats out of young people, as adults too could engage in anti-social behaviour.

Surat Ikramov, leader of the Initiative Group of Independent Human Rights Defenders, said the government was keen to stop people leaving the country for work abroad, but was unable to ensure there were enough jobs at home.

An internet cafe owner who gave his name as Murad said he feared the new law would be bad for business.

He also suggested that restricting access to internet cafes was an attempt to control the information that young people can access. One of the main reasons for using the web was to find news from outside Uzbekistan

“If teenagers are interested in the news, they will want to discover alternative views,” said Murad. “They can get the official version from local media for less money.”

He added, “No parent is going to go out at night so that their children can read some news.”

Veritas, an Uzbek youth rights group, accused the authorities of hypocrisy – on the one hand, they talked of shielding children from harmful influences, but on the other, they failed to prevent child labour being used in the cotton farming industry.

“When the authorities in Uzbekistan talk of ‘mass culture’, ‘foreign ideas’ or ‘extremism’, very often they mean the ideas of liberalism, democracy, freedom of speech and expression, and universally accepted human values,” Veritas said in a statement.

Andrei Saidov is the pseudonym of a journalist from Uzbekistan.

This article was produced jointly under two IWPR projects: Building Central Asian Human Rights Protection & Education Through the Media, funded by the European Commission; and the Human Rights Reporting, Confidence Building and Conflict Information Programme, funded by the Foreign Ministry of Norway. The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of IWPR and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of either the European Union or the Foreign Ministry of Norway.