A/HRC/37/49/Add.2 60. Mahallas set up family clinics which give advice on marriage, regularly visit households to identify problems, including teenagers and carry out early intervention in various situations. They also help the authorities to keep an eye on everyone in the neighbourhood and report as they find fit. Currently, there are also Prevention Officers (full-fledged agents of the Ministry of the Interior) permanently stationed in each Mahalla. Although, Mahallas are theoretically independent, many have indicated that, in practice, they are under State control, and are another State monitoring mechanism or at least an extension thereof. 61. In 2014, former President, Islam Karimov, signed the Law on Prevention of Violations of the Law (hereafter, the “Prevention Law”) that gave wide-ranging powers to State bodies, including Mahallas, non-State and non-commercial public organizations to be further involved in combating suspected “antisocial activity” in cooperation with the police. The activities monitored included those of unregistered religious organizations and the exercise of the right to freedom of religion or belief without State permission, to ensure the compliance of citizens with the 1998 Law and prohibit the propagation of religious views. 62. The Prevention Law also created the Preventive Register. Article 29 of the Law specifies the “prevention measures” to be used, including prophylactic talks, official warnings, social rehabilitation, placing on the Preventive Register, referral for compulsory treatment and administrative supervision. In addition, article 34 states that those on the Preventive Register are subject to a range of “preventive measures” by the police aimed at “correcting them and warning against the conducting of repeat offences”. The Law automatically places those convicted by the courts as well as those convicted of a wide range of administrative offences on the Register for one year or more. A person will be recorded for each separate crime or offence on the Register. Under article 31 of the Law, a person is required to sign any written warning issued to them. The person’s employer, educational establishment and the Mahalla where they live may also be informed. 63. Many State bodies could place individuals on the Preventive Register, which has led to possible abuse of the Register as people may arbitrarily be put on the Register for many years, with or without notification. The Mahallas apparently pay particular attention to advocates of new strains of Islam. In some cities, the Mahallas allegedly collected information about the residents’ religious practices and beliefs, including whether or not the person had a beard, with whom they gathered and spoke about, and who had taught them or their children about Islam. 64. At its peak, the Preventive Register had over 17,000 persons, although the number has now been reduced, as part of the reform measures initiated by the President, to just over 1,000. In June 2017, the President ordered the review of individual cases of detention of persons in custody and at least 16,000 people were removed from the Register. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the removal of those people and urges the Government to discontinue the practice of putting people on the Preventive Register or any “supervision” list. It was also encouraging to see that the Government had embarked on a programme of reintegration into the community those citizens who had been stigmatized or ostracized for alleged religious extremism. 65. Approximately six million Uzbekistan citizens who work abroad, mostly in Russia and Turkey, are also subject to State monitoring or surveillance. Many interlocutors, both State officials and civil society, expressed concern that most of those young people were vulnerable to radical Islamic preaching owing to their poor understanding of religions and their expatriate status. The authorities informed the Special Rapporteur that a programme was underway to address those concerns, which involved sending officials abroad to provide information on Islamic teachings, as a preventive measure, so as to prevent the young people from being influenced by radical ideas and groups. Others expressed concern that this was yet another way of monitoring the activities of nationals abroad as well as their families back home. Nonetheless, the Special Rapporteur welcomes the opening of consulates in areas that have many migrants in order to provide better support for migrant workers in difficulty. 66. However, the monitoring of citizens by the State, in addition to the use of overly broad definitions of extremism, is rather worrying. Not only do these preventive and 12