Procedural Safeguards for the Protection of Children’s Rights in Civil Proceedings: A Comparative Legal Analysis of Uzbekistan and Foreign Jurisdictions

Formal access to a court does not by itself ensure effective protection of children’s rights. Children depend on adults to initiate and conduct proceedings, while the adults involved may have interests that differ from the child’s interests. This article examines procedural safeguards for children in civil and family proceedings, focusing on access to justice, participation, representation, the assessment of best interests, privacy and implementation of judicial decisions. It applies doctrinal and comparative legal methods to international standards, the law of Uzbekistan, selected European Court of Human Rights judgments, and legislation in England and Wales, Germany, France, Russia and Kazakhstan. The analysis distinguishes three concepts that are often conflated: hearing a child, giving appropriate weight to the child’s views, and obtaining the child’s consent where the law requires it. It identifies a gap between the broad guarantees in Uzbekistan’s Family Code and the detailed procedures needed to operationalise them.