Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Korea Vitaliy Fen, left, speaks with The Korea Times President-Publisher Oh Young-jin at the ambassador's residence. / Courtesy of Embassy of Uzbekistan in Korea

Vitaliy Fen, ambassador of Uzbekistan to the Republic of Korea, spoke with Oh Young-jin, president and publisher of The Korea Times, about an important political process happening in Uzbekistan ― the process of amendments and additions to the current Constitution.

Oh Young-jin: These days the process of making amendments and additions to the Constitution is taking place in Uzbekistan. Tell us about the essence of these reforms.

Vitaliy Fen: The wide-scale tasks defined in the development strategy of the new Uzbekistan, goals such as more effective provision of human rights and interests, dignity, created the need to form a new constitutional and legal space suitable for fundamental reforms in our country.

Over the past period, there have been fundamental changes in the political, economic, social and cultural life of our society.

This showed the urgency of strengthening the principles of a "New Uzbekistan ― a social state" in our General Law, ensuring that human interests are the main criteria in the process of various reforms, inviolability of private property, the right to own land, raising the position of civil society institutions to the constitutional level, and improving the foundations of state power.

I would like to emphasize that the original author and initiator of changes and additions to the Constitution is the people of Uzbekistan.

The main goal of constitutional reforms is to strengthen human life, freedom, dignity, inviolable rights and interests at the constitutional level. In other words, the amendments to the Constitution of Uzbekistan are based on the principle of "man-society-state."

Of course, not only scientists, lawyers, but also representatives of all strata of the population, even citizens of Uzbekistan living abroad, are actively participating in this process. On the basis of the proposals received from the population, the draft constitutional law "On amendments and additions to the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan" was developed. This project was discussed by our people.

As you know, on June 20 this year, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev met with the members of the Constitutional Commission and expressed his views on the constitutional reforms.

In his speech, the president focused on four priority areas and made proposals for each of them.

The issues of human life, freedom, dignity, inviolable rights and interests were noted as the first direction. In the second direction, the idea that "Uzbekistan is a social state" was put forward. The third direction was about clearly defining the status of the neighborhood ("mahalla") in the Constitution and the duties of state bodies in this regard. The fourth direction focused on improving public administration and strengthening people's power in our country.

Oh: At what stages are the changes and additions to the Constitution of Uzbekistan being implemented?

Fen: Of course, the process of making changes and additions to the Constitution is carried out in several stages.

The first stage consisted of organizing the reception, collection and analysis of proposals from experts in the field and the general public on amending the Constitution.

The project was developed on the basis of the proposals of the Constitutional Commission and was presented to the Legislative Chamber of the Parliament. In this regard, the first stage of the work of the Constitutional Commission has come to an end.

The second stage was the consideration of the constitutional law draft developed by the parliament in the public discussion.

Such a democratic approach fully corresponds to the principle that "the only source and author of the Constitution is the people."

The second stage will end on Aug. 1 this year.

The third stage is the adoption of the draft law on amendments to the Constitution, which was approved as a result of public discussion, by holding a referendum.

It should be noted that according to the current legislation of Uzbekistan, the parliament itself has the power to amend the Constitution. Despite this, the president of Uzbekistan suggested that this draft law should be brought to the public discussion and adopted by holding a referendum.

Oh: Has the preparatory process for holding a referendum started in Uzbekistan?

Fen: The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Uzbekistan has started preparations for the upcoming referendum.

The referendum shall be held in accordance with the Law "On the Referendum of the Republic of Uzbekistan". At the moment, the CEC has developed regulations on referendum districts and referendum district commissions.

Also, requirements and recommendations such as equipping the building where the precinct commission is located and the voting rooms, the list of voting citizens, early voting, the tasks to be performed by the precinct commission on the day of the referendum, and the organization of voting were included.

In addition, the activity of observers is very important in ensuring the legitimacy, impartiality and openness of the referendum. Therefore, the CEC adopted a regulation on regulating the activities of foreign (international) and local observers, and on observers from foreign countries and international organizations participating in the referendum of the republic.

Also, taking into account the active participation of our compatriots abroad in the previous elections and in order to fully ensure their constitutional rights and create convenience in voting in the referendum, the regulation on the procedure for the establishment of precinct commissions holding referendums at the diplomatic and other representative offices of Uzbekistan in foreign countries was approved.