Access to justice is a fundamental pillar of the rule of law. In recent years, Uzbekistan has advanced significantly in this area, enacting a series of ambitious reforms – most notably the Law “On the provision of legal aid at the expense of the state”, which lays the foundation for a nationwide legal-aid system. The next crucial step is to define the scope of assistance that the system must provide. Effective policy hinges on a clear understanding of the public’s actual needs.

To supply that evidence, the UNDP project “Strengthening the Rule of Law and Human Rights Protection in Uzbekistan” carried out a nationwide legal-needs assessment. The study mapped the most pressing problem areas, showing that social-security claims (31.4 %), land and housing disputes (27.9 %) and financial matters (25.9 %) dominate people’s concerns; that almost half of respondents (48.6 %) first seek help from their local mahalla before turning to specialised state bodies (28.7 %), the other party (23.4 %) or, far less often, the courts (10.3 %); that despite 71 % rating their legal knowledge as “average” and 64 % answering test questions correctly, one-third still attribute their problems to poor understanding of the law; and that only 8.6 % can afford a lawyer, with fees ranging from under 200 000 to over 2.5 million UZS – evidence that the emerging legal-aid system must prioritise high-frequency issues, embed services in community structures, boost legal literacy and subsidise professional representation through stronger public funding and NGO partnerships. These findings will guide policymakers as they refine Uzbekistan’s legal-aid framework and broaden equitable access to justice.

You can review the key findings and conclusions of the study in the presentation.