Uzbekistan: the number of crimes increased during quarantine
The number of crimes in the country over five months increased by almost 42%. In the period from January to May, 17,271 crimes were registered in Uzbekistan, while in the same period last year this number was 12,171. Such an increase is driven by rising unemployment and inefficient social assistance from the state.
Referring to the prosecutor general’s office, the press service of the nationwide movement “Yuksalish” reported on the results of operational-search and investigative measures to solve crimes in January-May. There was no official message from the department at the time of writing this publication.
The number of cases of hooliganism increased by almost 2.5 times (153 — in 2019, 385 — in 2020), the number of crimes related to fraud increased by 2 times (3124 — in 2019, 2712 — in 2020) and bribetaking (280 — in 2019, 557 — in 2020). Also, there is an increase in the number of cases of robbery (from 38 to 74) as well as theft cases (from 1293 to 2097).
The largest increase in the number of crimes is observed in the city of Tashkent (20.9%), and in Ferghana (105.5%), Tashkent (29.3%), Samarkand (29.1%) and Andijan (54.2%) regions. Thus, for the past five months, an increase in the number of crimes related to bribery of 4,3 times was recorded in Andijan region (from 17 to 73).
“It is not unthinkable that now these figures correspond to real ones”, — the ACCA expert comments. – “During the presidency of Shavkat Mirziyoyev, law enforcement agencies assured fellow citizens about reducing crime, by way of juggling statistics and converting a number of crimes into less serious ones. It seems that now the authorities are trying to operate with real information to effectively combat crime.”
In January 2019, the head of Tashkent Central Internal Affairs Directorate, Rustam Juraev, called crime reduction a “miracle”. “We did not change the calculation procedure — it’s exactly the same as it was before. Admittedly, a 50% reduction in crime is the president’s policy over the past two years. This is a comprehensive work and not only the merit of the Internal Affairs Agencies. It is also about providing jobs as well as solving social issues. Most often, the unemployed commit crimes” — he said.
According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor Relations, at the moment, there are at least 2 million unemployed in the country. Given latent unemployment, when residents work but do not receive a salary, this index can significantly exceed the declared one.
The number of economically active population of the country is more than 14 million people. According to Bloomberg, unemployment in Uzbekistan could reach 16.5% this year, while official forecasts report 8.9%. “In any case, the criminal situation in the country will only be more acute. The labor season for migrants is almost a failure ” – said an ACCA expert.
