Image: Head of the Delegation of the European Union in Uzbekistan, Ambassador Charlotte Adriaen and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan Abdulaziz Kamilov Source: EEAS Uzbekistan International donors Uzbekistan benefits from the EU-Uzbekistan Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement39 and the EU GSP+ system of trading for sustainable development and good governance.40 GSP+ trading status is contingent on commitments to a number of core conventions on human rights, labour rights, environmental protections, climate change and good governance.41 In addition, the EU has provided millions of euros to develop Uzbekistan’s agribusiness sector. The EU multi-annual indicative programme cites support of Uzbekistan’s agri-food sector as a means to ‘promote rural livelihoods, create decent jobs, and improve food security and nutrition’.42 In a statement, Charlotte Adriaen, EU ambassador to Uzbekistan, said that ‘Uzbek farmers should be allowed to develop their businesses and support their families’.43 2.2.3 Conclusion It is apparent that private housing in Uzbekistan can only be compulsorily acquired under strictly circumscribed circumstances associated with public need. Furthermore, private property rights are protected in Uzbekistan under its constitution and national legislation. Similarly, long-term land leases can only be cancelled in circumscribed situations, with procedures in place to ostensibly prevent arbitrary seizures by regional officials. In the next section, five cases involving hundreds of residents and farmers will be presented; the cases strongly suggest that these laws are not being adhered to by the state. In 2014, the EU published a policy paper on the human rights impact of land grabbing.44 The paper identified national elites including politicians, civil servants and entrepreneurs as well as parastatal actors as potential drivers of illegal land confiscations. In addressing the human rights impact of land grabbing, the EU highlights the role of the state in ensuring the ability of people to feed themselves and also the state’s obligation to protect this ability from infringements by third parties, including agribusiness firms. The EU acknowledges the concerns relating to political rights, including the rights of freedom of expression, assembly and association, recognising that land grabbing is an issue of democratic governance and more likely to occur in countries (such as Uzbekistan) where governance is weak and authoritarian in nature. This, in turn, has implications for the human right to remedy where affected people have no access to an effective, impartial grievance mechanism. 43. ‘EU committed to support Uzbekistan Agricultural sector’, The Diplomatic Insight, 16 June 2023. Available online: https://thediplomaticinsight.com/eu-committed-to-support-uzbekistan-agricultural-sector/ A False Sense of Legality 19