Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- At the thirty-ninth plenary session of the Senate, senators considered the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On amendments and additions to certain legislative acts of the Republic of Uzbekistan in connection with the further improvement of the system of reliable protection of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of women and children."

It should be noted that this Law, along with the establishment of strict penalties for various types of violence committed today against women and minors, serves to prevent such negative cases.

The law establishes the appropriate measures of administrative and criminal liability for family (domestic) violence, that is, violence committed against a spouse, ex-wife or former spouse, a person living together on the basis of a single household or a person having a common child.

From now on, it is also established that humane acts in the form of early conditional release from punishment or replacement of punishment with a milder one cannot be applied to persons who have committed sexual violence, including against minors. On the contrary, punishments for such crimes are getting tougher.

In addition, responsibility is established for the commission of acts of a sexual nature against women, for the persecution and failure by parents to fulfill their obligations to appoint a guardian or trustee for their minor children.

Another of the main changes being made to the legislation is that, in accordance with the current legislation, the accused’s knowledge of the age of the victim was one of the main criteria for qualifying such crimes as rape and forcible satisfaction of sexual desire in an unnatural form. Now this rule is abolished, that is, the defendant’s ignorance of the age of the victim does not relieve him of the responsibility provided for by the relevant parts of the articles of the Criminal Code.

At the same time, it also envisages a ban on the involvement of persons who have committed sexual violence against minors in activities involving the upbringing, education of children and direct work with children, as well as maintaining a list of persons who have committed these types of crimes.

As a result of the discussion, the law was approved by the senators.