Uzbek President Islam Karimov has introduced draft legislation that would loosen the government's grip on the media, at the center of criticisms of the Central Asian country's human rights record.
In an apparent bid to improve civil liberties in the country, Karimov on Friday proposed a bill to make policy making more transparent.
"The bill... should ensure that the population and social groups have access to information about [government] decisions and primarily about the decisions concerning the rights, liberties and legal interests of the citizens," local media quoted Karimov as saying.
He also proposed a bill to create a system of public oversight to monitor how government decisions are being implemented.
Since rising to power in the late 1980s, Karimov has kept a tight grip on the Central Asian country, outlawing opposition groups and reining in the media. UN reports have described human rights abuses in Uzbekistan as "systematic."
TASHKENT, November 13 (RIA Novosti)
