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The situation in Uzbekistan merited special attention because the clear warnings that the rise in poverty and inequality could lead to violence went unheeded, with the results we know today. Since 1991, Uzbekistan has embarked on the difficult transition away from a totalitarian system and a centralized economy, with little success. The evaluation describes a situation of increasing poverty and inequality (as compared to the Soviet era) that, combined with a blocked political system, offers little hope for change. This has caused growing social tension to which the government has responded with increasingly repressive measures that have pushed some people to violence.
The causal connection between government policies that fail to provide protection for economic and social rights and increasing violence was identified with clarity in a 2003 United Nations Development Group report [1] :
The first Uzbekistan case study deals with the situation of Uzbek workers forced by poverty to migrate to Tashkent (the capital). They are consequently subjected to exploitation and violence because, having no resident permit, they are considered as illegal residents in the city. The second deals with the economic and social causes of domestic violence. Both studies clearly confirm the relationship between violence and violations of economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights.
[1] United Nations Development Group (UNDG), "Common Country Assessment Uzbekistan 2003", http://www.undg.org/documents/5479-Uzbekistan_CCA.pdf, p. 19, pp. 43-45.
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