December 8 – the day of adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan History of creation of our constitution
Before talking about the history of the creation of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, “What is the Constitution?” It is appropriate to answer the question.
Constitution (Latin “Constitution” – structure, arrangement) – the Basic law of the state. It defines the structure of the state, the system of power and management bodies, their authority and the order of their formation, the electoral system, the rights and freedoms of citizens, the relationship between society and the individual, as well as the judicial system and the relationship between the state and society.
The first legal step towards the creation of the constitution is to grant the status of the state language to the Uzbek language.
“It is very rightly said that a person who does not know his mother tongue does not know his family tree, his roots, he has no future, and he who does not know his language does not know his language either.” “Every nation, big or small, respects its mother tongue.”
Important legal provisions established in the Law “On State Language” are now sealed in Article 4 of our Basic Law as follows:
“Uzbek is the state language of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The Republic of Uzbekistan ensures that the languages, customs and traditions of all nations and peoples living in its territory are respected, and creates conditions for their development.”
The second legal step towards the creation of the constitution is related to the establishment of the Presidential Institute and the creation of a commission for the preparation of new state symbols.
The third legal step towards the creation of the Constitution is the announcement of the “Declaration of Independence”.
In paragraph 8 of the “Declaration of Independence” announced by the Supreme Council of Uzbekistan on June 20, 1990, Uzbekistan “determines its path of development, its name and state symbols (coat of arms, flag, anthem ) established by himself” has been strengthened.
The fourth legal step on the way to the creation of the constitution goes back to the establishment of the Constitutional Commission.
The fifth legal step towards the creation of the Constitution is closely related to the visit of the First President to India in 1991.
In a word, despite the difficult conditions, political, economic and social difficulties that arose on the eve of independence, our people are resolutely moving towards their age-old dream – state sovereignty and independence of Uzbekistan. continued. The important rights and provisions reflected in the presidential decrees and decisions adopted during that turbulent period were later strengthened as the main sections, chapters and articles of our Constitution.
The sixth legal step towards the creation of the Constitution is the declaration of the independence of the State.
The speech of the head of our country on August 31, 1991, at the extraordinary sixth session of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Uzbekistan of the twelfth convocation, especially the speech: I propose to declare it as a public holiday”, the fiery words are forever written in golden letters in the history of our country.
On this day, the constitutional law “On the foundations of state independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan” was adopted. A number of important articles reflecting the core provisions of the future Constitution were included in it. In particular, according to this Law:
“The Republic of Uzbekistan has full state power, independently determines its national-state and administrative territorial structure, system of power and management agencies” (Article 3);
“The Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan and its laws prevail in the Republic of Uzbekistan. The system of state agencies of the Republic of Uzbekistan is built on the basis of the division of power into legislative, executive and judicial powers” (Article 5).
This Constitutional Law served as a small Constitution for us until the adoption of our Basic Law, that is, until December 8, 1992.
The seventh legal step towards the creation of the Constitution concerns the holding of the presidential election and the referendum on the independence of the State on December 29, 1991.
The election of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the referendum on the independence of the republic was held on December 29, 1991. The people voted in favor of the independence of the state and elected the President. On January 4, 1992, the ninth session of the Supreme Council dedicated to the results of this election and referendum was opened.
The eighth legal step towards the creation of the Constitution is the publication of the first draft of the Constitution in the press for public discussion.
After the announcement of the project, its public discussion took a very wide shape. These open discussions took place from the end of September to the beginning of December 1992 in the spirit of political activity and creative enthusiasm of citizens and became an effective and practical school for the development of democracy in Uzbekistan.
The Constitutional Commission received about 600 letters with comments. More than a hundred materials on the draft Constitution were published in the republican press itself. The number of suggestions made by our citizens exceeded 5 thousand.
The ninth legal step towards the creation of the Constitution is the publication of the draft Constitution for the second time in the press for public discussion.
The meaning of publishing the draft Constitution in the press for discussion in two stages was that the citizens could see the result of their participation in the discussion of the draft Constitution in the reworked version of the Constitution.
In the new version of the draft constitution, many comments and proposals received at the initial stage of public discussion were expressed. Our citizens were convinced that their voice was heard by the Constitutional Commission, their proposals were considered and taken into account.
The tenth legal step towards the creation of the Constitution is the adoption of the draft Constitution.
The draft Constitution was discussed for the last time by the Constitutional Commission on December 6, 1992.
On December 8, 1992, after the draft was discussed item by item by the deputies of the parliament and a number of amendments were made, it was adopted by the General Council. Since then, December 8 has been declared a public holiday.
The first Constitution of independent Uzbekistan formed and strengthened reliable legal guarantees of the new independent society.