Safeguarding international schools in Uzbekistan: country guide

Private schools in Uzbekistan work under a licence. Under the Law on Education (23 September 2020, No ZRU-637), the Ministry of Preschool and School Education issues, suspends and cancels licences for general schools (Article 57). Authorised national education bodies monitor quality and licence conditions (Article 43).

International schools often add an accreditor, such as the Council of International Schools (CIS). Ask your head which bodies your school answers to.

Accreditors such as CIS publish child protection standards on staff selection, detecting abuse and reporting it. They trace back to the International Task Force on Child Protection (ITFCP). If your school is accredited, it answers to those standards and to Uzbek law at once.

Two laws speak to it. The first is the Law on Guarantees of the Rights of the Child (7 January 2008, No ZRU-139). Article 11 tells anyone who learns of a threat to a child's life or health, or of a rights breach, to tell the guardianship body where the child is.

The second is the Law on the Protection of Children from All Forms of Violence (14 November 2024, No ZRU-996). Article 27 tells organisations and individuals that work to protect children to report a child at risk at once to the competent bodies and the police. Article 7 lists non-state educational organisations among those bodies.

The International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) found no mandatory reporting legislation in September 2021. Article 27 now sets an explicit duty. See mandatory reporting laws for international schools.

Article 47 of the 2024 law says only that violators are liable under the usual procedure. It sets no penalty for failing to report, so ask local counsel what follows. This guide is general information, not legal advice.

The law lists six forms of violence against children: physical, sexual and psychological violence, lack of care, exploitation and bullying. It covers acts done online (Article 3).

A school must approve internal rules on preventing violence, and check that staff follow them. It must also train staff to spot violence and keep data on cases (Article 17). It must name people responsible for preventing violence (Article 44).

Articles 17 and 44 speak of educational institutions. Ask counsel how your licence fits, but draft as if the rules apply to you.

Police can issue a protective order within 24 hours of finding violence or a threat. It lasts up to 30 days (Article 32). When the child and the person at fault study or work in one place, the head of that place must act within three working days to end direct contact.

If a child is in immediate danger, call 112 first. Then follow your school's child protection procedure and tell your designated safeguarding lead (DSL) the same day. Keep these numbers where staff can see them.

The law promises a free hotline that runs around the clock (Article 25) but names no number. The National Agency for Social Protection launched 1246 in July 2026, on a trial basis at first.

• 112: the unified emergency number, introduced in 2024. The older numbers still work: 102 police, 103 ambulance, 101 fire.
• 1246: the child violence hotline. Check it is live before you print it on a poster.
• 1146: the agency's domestic violence and abuse hotline, listed on its official site.
• The guardianship body and the local police unit for your district: ask counsel for names and numbers.
• Your DSL: tell them the same day, every time.

Many international schools model their policy on Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE), English guidance with no legal force in Uzbekistan. Read which parts of KCSIE travel abroad first.

The sharpest difference is who carries the duty. Many school policies route every concern through the DSL, who decides on a referral. Uzbek law speaks of organisations and of individuals: any person who learns of a threat to a child (2008 law), and individuals who protect children (2024 law).

One procedure can meet both. Staff tell the DSL at once, and the DSL reports to the competent bodies and the police without delay. Staff may report directly if the DSL is out of reach.

Write down who was told, when and what was said. Ask counsel whether telling the DSL meets each person's own duty. Then ask three staff members to describe the route.

Ages differ too. The 2024 law counts sex with a person under 16 as sexual violence, while the child rights law defines a child as anyone under 18. Write your policy to protect everyone under 18.

The Law on Personal Data (2 July 2019, No ZRU-547) covers safeguarding files. Health, private life and criminal record data count as special data (Article 25). Processing it is banned unless an exception applies, such as written consent or protecting the rights and legitimate interests of the person or others.

For a child, a parent or guardian gives written consent (Article 21). Law No ZRU-1125 of 26 March 2026 rewrote the storage rule in Article 27-1. Biometric data, genetic data and the data of telecom users must now stay in Uzbekistan.

Other data may be stored abroad on one of three conditions. The destination is on the government's list of adequate countries, the operator follows approved contract terms or binding corporate rules, or it follows listed international standards. If your school uses fingerprint or face readers, check where that data sits.

Sending a file to a child's next school abroad is a cross-border transfer (Article 15). It is allowed to countries with adequate protection, and elsewhere in listed cases such as the person's consent. See moving schools and transferring safeguarding records.

Before 27 March 2026, a rule from April 2021 required citizens' data handled with information technology to sit on servers in Uzbekistan, so older advice may be out of date. Ask each supplier where data sits and get the answer in writing.

The Uzbek text is the official one. lex.uz marks some recent Russian passages as unofficial translations, and its English view is an online translation tool. Put your reporting route in the languages your staff speak, and ask a local lawyer to check the wording.

In serious cases, expect the local mahalla, the citizens' self-government body, to take part. Article 38 ties the emergency removal of a child to an act of that body, with a prevention inspector present.

Corporal punishment is banned in schools. Article 44 of the 2024 law bars every form of violence as discipline, including corporal punishment and cruel or degrading treatment. The Law on Education also gives pupils protection from violence by teachers (Article 47).

Staff can also be fined. Article 47 of the Code on Administrative Responsibility, as amended on 11 September 2026, covers physical violence or humiliation of a pupil by the adult responsible for teaching them. Treat any report about a colleague under your allegations procedure.

The Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children updated its report in August 2024, before the new law. It said a school ban was not explicit and that corporal punishment appeared lawful at home.

Two rules shape hiring. Article 41 of the 2024 law bars people convicted of listed offences against children from work in schools and other child organisations, even after a record is spent. Article 28 of the Law on Education bars anyone convicted of an intentional crime from a leadership post in an educational organisation.

The first group goes on a special register and is monitored by the police. Ask counsel whether and how a private school can check it.

A police certificate exists too. GOV.UK says it comes from the Information Centre of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or its local departments, in Russian. Applicants abroad should allow about three months.

Safer recruitment for international schools sets out the wider checks to run on every candidate.

Several of these laws changed in 2026, including by Law No ZRU-1174 of 11 September 2026. Re-check the sources each term.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Confirm every point with local counsel and the relevant authority. Then work through this starting list.

• Ask local counsel to confirm your reporting route in writing: which guardianship body, which police unit, and how fast.
• Write one procedure that names the DSL, the deputy and the emergency numbers, with the internal rules on violence that the 2024 law asks for.
• Confirm the 1246 line is live, then post the numbers where staff and students can read them.
• Ask every supplier where safeguarding and training data is stored, and get the answer in writing.
• Put the ban on violence as discipline in your staff code of conduct and brief all staff, drivers and guards included.