HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND MODERN SLAVERY IN UZBEKISTAN: COMPLIANCE WITH INTERNATIONAL LEGAL STANDARDS

Abstract

This article examines the national legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan on human trafficking and modern forms of slavery - including forced labour, debt bondage, forced marriage, and digital exploitation - through the lens of compliance with international legal standards. Applying comparative legal and systemic methodology, the study identifies structural gaps in criminal and migration law, analyses enforcement and judicial practice, and evaluates prospects for legislative reform. Drawing on Russian, Kazakhstani, and Uzbek legal scholarship alongside global anti-trafficking frameworks, the article argues that Uzbekistan's legal architecture, while formally oriented toward international norms, requires comprehensive reform to close persistent definitional, institutional, and procedural deficits..