National guard can impose administrative penalties on students

The National Guard has been granted the authority to impose administrative penalties for offenses involving students. This was outlined in the law "On Amendments to the Code of Administrative Responsibility of the Republic of Uzbekistan in Connection with the Improvement of the System for the Prevention of Offenses Among Minors," approved by senators on January 25 during the third plenary session of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis.

Since February 2024, inspectors-psychologists for juvenile issues from the internal affairs bodies have been transferred to the National Guard. From February to the present, National Guard inspectors-psychologists identified 44,450 cases of violations of the law "Failure to Fulfill Obligations to Raise and Educate Children" (Article 47 of the Code of Administrative Responsibility) and applied administrative penalties through preventive inspectors of internal affairs bodies. Additionally, approximately 175,000 warning letters were issued for cases where parents failed to send their children to school.

"Currently, one inspector-psychologist is responsible for 3 to 10 schools, depending on the number of children in each school. Last year, school attendance was at 50 percent, but now this figure has increased to 90-95 percent. However, using the preventive inspector as the basis for applying administrative sanctions to the parents of minor offenders has negatively impacted the efficiency of inspectors-psychologists and caused unnecessary time consumption," said Senator Rustam Kalonov.

As a result, the law amends Articles 248 and 248-1 of the Code of Administrative Responsibility to expand the powers of the National Guard and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Specifically, National Guard bodies, including its inspectors-psychologists for minors, are now authorized to handle administrative cases under Article 4 of the Code of Administrative Responsibility, including:

- Failure to fulfill obligations in the upbringing and education of children (Article 47);
- Smoking in public places (Article 56-1);
- Consumption of alcoholic beverages in public places (Article 187, Part 1);
- Involvement of minors in antisocial behavior (Article 188).

The law also removes these powers from the inspectors-psychologists of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for minors. According to the senators, the law complies with the Constitution and laws of Uzbekistan and does not require additional budgetary expenditures.